Ten-year-old Leo and his older brother Caleb live in 1960s Harlem with their mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Proudhammer. Their father, a Black man from Barbados who tells his sons he is descended from kings, drinks heavily and struggles to pay the rent and keep his family afloat with his factory job. They get by on their mother's charm at the grocery store and their father's constant apologies to the landlord when the rent is late. Leo has a close relationship with his brother Caleb, who is seventeen, though he is often picked on or abandoned by him. This happens most often when the two go to the movies, and Caleb leaves Leo to fend for himself while he goes off with his older friends. On one occasion, Leo decides to venture onto the subway as he often does — since he can slip under the turnstile and ride for free — but finds himself in an unfamiliar area surrounded solely by white people. Leo, finally able to find one Black man on another train, asks him for help, knowing that even if he were to be scolded he would at least not be killed. This kind stranger, Uncle Charles, does scold Leo for being out alone, but he also guides him to the right train and makes sure that he can get home safely. Leo has several other frightening encounters when he is away from home, and once witnesses a strangling, after which he ran to be comforted by Caleb. Once he is stopped by white cops on the way home from going with Caleb to visit his friends. After this confrontation, especially, Leo wonders if any white people can be good, or if he will always be hated by them for the color of his skin.