Twyla and Roberta meet each other as 8 year-olds separated from their mothers at St. Bonny's shelter. Twyla's mother dances all night and Roberta's mother is sick. They become close friends over the course of four months as they braid each other's hair, secretly watch the older girls play and dance, and attend family visits together. As they watch the older girls play, they see them laugh and ridicule Maggie, an elderly woman who can't speak and has fallen down. Later, when their mothers both visit them on the same Sunday, Roberta's mother refuses to shake the hand of Twyla's mother. This is the first time race separates them. Roberta leaves the shelter shortly after and Twyla is left to move on with her life. Twyla, now a waitress, runs into Roberta at the diner she works at. Roberta looks a bit richer than she remembers and says she is on the way to meet with Jimi Hendrix. Twyla doesn't know who Hendrix is. There's a strange empty tension between the two as Roberta doesn't seem to want to talk to Twyla. The two cross paths again when Twyla is out shopping at a new fancy grocery store. Roberta, who has recently moved into the same city as Twyla with her new husband and stepchildren, is now significantly more rich. They go for a ride in her limousine and share a meal. They get along like long lost sisters. During this meal Roberta brings up Maggie's fall, saying that the older girls pushed her down. This doesn't sit right with Twyla because she doesn't remember the girls pushing her. She simply remembers Maggie falling. Their next encounter is during an intense integration protest. Roberta is protesting integration which doesn't sit right with Twyla, whose son is being bussed out to school. They argue and a crowd of protesters comes and shakes Twyla's car from side to side. Twyla reaches out for Roberta's hand like she used to when the older girls attacked them, but she's not there to help her. Race has once again separated them. To add fuel to the fire, Roberta accuses Twyla of pushing and kicking Maggie, a Black woman, when they were children. Twyla doesn't remember this being true. She doesn't remember Maggie being Black and she doesn't remember ever pushing or kicking her. Their last meeting happens at a coffee shop in the middle of a Christmas snow storm. Roberta apologizes to Twyla for the last thing she said about Maggie. She says she genuinely remembered it that way because she wanted to hurt Maggie with the older girls. Though she doesn't have much to say to Roberta after their last encounter, Twyla comes to the same conclusion. She realizes that Maggie reminded her of her mother and wanted to express her frustrations the same way Roberta did.