Amidst the desolate landscape of the Great Depression in 1936, 16-year-old Lorena 'Rena' Leland's aspirations as a writer are quashed following the economic downturn that consumes her family. Despite her father succumbing to alcoholism and her sister's precarious marriage, Rena's drive for writing rekindles when she seizes a job with the Federal Writers' Project. This opportunity sets her on a path to interview Frankie Washington, a centenarian whose poignant narrative as a former slave upends Rena's understanding of her own history and heritage. Frankie divulges a past rife with struggle, a contrast to Rena's ancestry of slave owners. Throughout the recounting, an uncommon bond forms between them, transcending the gulfs of race, age, and social standing. However, a suppressed truth threatens to shatter their newfound rapport.