Edwin picks Nana up from jail, where he's being held on charges of assault leveled by his longtime fling, Sassy. Nana reassures Edwin that the charges aren't true and that Sassy will drop them; Edwin takes them out to dinner. Nana reflects on the brothers' relationship history: Edwin married a white girl, Emily, but divorced her a few years ago. Nana and Sassy have been hooking up since high school, but they've been fighting a lot recently, especially about Nana's drug addiction. Edwin and Nana go home. Nana calls Sassy and remembers how everyone in their neighborhood used to look up to Edwin, who grew up in Ghana for most of his childhood and thus held authority over the other kids for his knowledge of the old country. Nana remembers that Edwin got jumped as a teenager and was never the same; he tried to distance himself from American Blackness out of frustration that his African identity had mostly disappeared from the public eye. Edwin went to Princeton, which nobody would stop talking about, but then he started dating only white girls and never visiting home. Mama Phyllis, the best cook in town, throws a house party to celebrate Edwin's return. Nana gets high in the bathroom with his friend NaKwame, but Mama Phyllis interrupts them to announce that Edwin is in an argument. Nana finds Edwin fighting with his ex-girlfriend, Akosua, in the yard. She blames Edwin for leaving, saying that Nana hasn't been sober for a week since their Auntie Rose died five years ago—the last time Edwin was in Cleveland. Edwin runs away, and Nana follows him. He goes to Sassy first, and they cry together and break up. Nana finds Edwin at Auntie Rose's grave.