Claire, a freshman in college from Virginia living in a dorm, visits her father who has recently moved to Florida with Claire's stepmom Poppy. There, she begins a sexual relationship with a Southern boy named Jackson. As a gift, Jackson gives Claire a bikini with a Confederate flag on it. Claire wears it, somewhat ironically, and Jackson takes a picture of her in it and posts it on Facebook. When Claire returns to campus, her Black floormate named Carmen has reposted the photo. The hate messages begin flooding in for Claire. She responds by slipping a postcard of a Confederate flag with the words "Welcome back! I hope you had a great vacation." under Carmen's door. Student free-speech groups reach out to Claire to defend her. Claire prints out a picture of the Confederate flag and tapes it to her dorm window. She hides out in her room for the next few days until she is required to go to a meeting with some of the college staff, such as the head of diversity. They tell Claire she technically has not broken any rules with the flag, but for her own sake, she should apologize to Carmen and take down the flag. She must attend a disciplinary hearing since Carmen reported she feels threatened. Claire essentially blows off the staff's advice and pleas. Claire thinks about her ex-best friend Angela Hall, who is Black. They went through their whole childhoods together, and Claire even felt she had a brother in Angela's brother Aaron. Angela's mother and Claire's mother coincidentally developed cancer at the same time and went through chemo together when Angela and Claire were in high school. This brought Claire closer to Angela and Aaron, and she even slept with Aaron once. When Claire's mother died from cancer while Angela's mother went into remission, Claire stopped speaking to Angela, who served as a reminder of her mother's death. A year or so later, Aaron saw Claire drunk at a party and, slightly intoxicated himself, offered to drive Claire home. Claire resisted and, when a group of white boys saw Aaron putting Claire in a car, they followed him at a high speed in their own car. Aaron drove off the road trying to escape and died, though Claire lived. News gets out about Claire and her relationship with Aaron. Claire, after Aaron's death, continued hanging out with one of the white boys who drove Aaron off the road. Claire does not feel the need to explain her relationship with Aaron but is prepared to if it comes up at the hearing. At the hearing, a bunch of white students stand up and speak out against Claire. Carmen and the university's Black students sit together in silence and, before the hearing is over, walk out of the room. Claire does not know what to do with the Black students' silence and looks at the microphone in front of her, trying to decide whether or not to defend herself to the room that is still half full.