Raised in Memphis by a strong single mother, Hope is bright enough to win a scholarship to an exclusive New England prep school. But it is an opportunity that comes at a high price: Three tumultuous teenage years at the school have left Hope confused about what it means to be "black.". Now in her late twenties and a journalist at a Philadelphia newspaper, Hope finds herself trapped between two worlds - uncomfortable in the white world, yet cut off from her roots as well. The only thing she knows for certain is that she's angry, and she clings wryly to that rage as the last vestige of her battered racial identity. As the novel unfolds, Hope focuses her ire on a colleague, a beautiful blond woman who seems to have the world on a string. She decides to steal the woman's boyfriend, thinking that if she can succeed, it will even the cosmic score. At the same time, Hope must contend with a newsroom battle over affirmative action that threatens to get downright personal. Hope's struggle to find herself leads her to an affair with an Afrocentric journalist and to Africa itself. But it is at home, in America, that Hope's anger finally drives her to a desperate act. And it is at home that she must confront her rage and the seeds of self-destruction it contains.