The American South, the 1960s. Skitter has just finished university and is returning home to a sleepy town of Jackson, where nothing ever happens. She dreams of becoming a writer, escaping into the big world. But a respectable Southern girl is not supposed to indulge such foolish illusions—she should marry and take care of the house.
Wise Abileen, thirty years older than Skitter, has spent her entire life serving white people’s homes, raising seventeen children, and for a long time has been expecting nothing from life, because her heart is broken after the death of her only son.
Minny is the best cook in all of Jackson, and also the boldest maid in town. Her sharp tongue has more than once brought her trouble. Minny never stays in one place for long. But with Minny, even the most haughty white ladies shouldn’t mess around.
What unites two Black maids and an inexperienced white girl is the same thing: a heightened sense of justice and the desire to change the order of things somehow. Can these three stand up against the whole world? Can they survive this fight?