Annie is a young Black girl growing up in the working-class Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Born into a financially struggling family living in a cramped house without indoor plumbing, she initially interacts with her environment through direct sensory exploration, like spilling red cherries from a milk-glass bowl. As she grows into a young child, she relies on her strong imagination to entertain herself in a backyard scattered with big bugs and discarded jelly jars. She stays happily isolated in her play, entirely unaware of the social and economic boundaries defining her early existence.

Annie's mother and father live in a narrow, impoverished house in a segregated post-war Chicago neighborhood. Their home contains simple items like an iron pot and a bright yellow apron, while their backyard relies on an outhouse and a manual water pump. Though the pregnancy caught them by surprise, they warmly welcome their new baby. They endure the difficult economic realities of their era, appearing to their infant as caring but frequently exhausted figures doing their best to survive.