Demi considers how the effects of a car crash ripple out from the vehicles involved. She feels that her life is out of her control, comparing it to an accident, and that she is unlucky. She is 19 years old and lives in North Carolina; she is currently staying in a cheap motel as a temporary respite from living on the streets. Demi looks through the newspaper’s classifieds for a job that doesn’t require a home address, and she finds a housekeeper position with Dr. Ian Ivory. She thinks back on not having an education but loving library books. Overwhelmed by the idea that she might escape her life, she self-harms with scissors on her thigh.

Demi drinks while self-harming, passes out, and wakes up in a puddle of her own blood. She cleans up and uses a computer to apply for the housekeeper position. A woman named Carla replies to Demi’s email with a list of requirements for the interview, such as wearing all white, having her hair pinned up, and wearing no nail polish. Looking over the other job ads, she decides that she’d rather be a housekeeper than a nanny. Demi showers and hears voices outside, which turn out to be a traumatic memory. She has a panic attack and self-harms again.

Demi goes to a thrift store in the rich part of town and buys a white jumpsuit. After gently damaging the merchandise, presenting the damage to the employee, and threatening to tell his boss that he is watching porn on his phone, Demi is able to get 15% off. Then, she goes to a drugstore and buys a little makeup. The employee there expresses concern about Demi, and she tells the employee to mind her own business. She then hitchhikes back to the motel, and a woman with a baby picks her up. The woman, Raina Kumar, is a dermatologist, and Demi asks for advice to improve her looks for her job interview the next day. Raina invites Demi over for dinner, and Demi is immediately impressed with the size of Raina’s mansion.

Demi is impressed with the interior of the mansion. Raina shares that her “mom is actually Persian, and [her] dad is Indian” (23). While Raina puts her child, Kai, to bed, her husband, Jax Roberts, comes out and startles Demi. She breaks a picture frame and apologizes. Raina returns and introduces Jax. Demi tells them that she is going to an interview with Dr. Ian Ivory. As Raina orders food, Demi notices Kai’s odd, sound-muffling shoes. Raina gets off the phone and asks about the interview. Demi lies and says that it’s for a job as an assistant, not a housekeeper. Raina says that the Ivory family is very demanding of its employees, and Demi says that she needs the job.

As they eat dinner, Raina suggests that Demi stay the night at the house and offers to give her a makeover and some clothes for the interview. Raina assures Demi that Jax can get her belongings from the motel, and Demi agrees to stay. After Jax goes to work in another room, Demi tells Raina that she is from Nashville and claims that she moved because of the music there. Demi doesn’t share that the music played while she was imprisoned; that’s how she learned to hate it.

Raina offers an expensive white suit for Demi to borrow. She hesitates, worried about the price of the suit, and has a panic attack. Raina intervenes, stopping Demi from harming herself. Demi cries in Raina’s lap. After she is calm, Demi takes a shower, using Raina’s expensive bath items. She hallucinates a dead woman in the mirror and screams. Raina intervenes, and Demi claims to have been shocked by the showerhead. Raina offers to stay with Demi until she falls asleep, but Demi turns her down.

In the morning, Demi wakes up refreshed in the comfortable bed. She cleans up and sees Jax in the hallway, painting the banister. He says that he has collected her things from the motel and ordered egg-white sandwiches. As they begin to talk about the Ivory family, Raina comes into the room with the delivered food. Jax claims that they were talking about Kai. As they eat, Raina offers to take Demi to her medi-spa before the interview. Demi again hesitates but agrees. She internally compares the good food that Raina ordered with meals from vending machines and fast food places.

Raina treats Demi to a variety of services, like a facial, blow out, and manicure. Back at the house, Demi changes into the expensive suit, and Jax gives her shoes like his silent ones. Raina warns Demi not to reveal too much about herself, nor mention that Raina helped her, at the interview. Then, Raina gives Demi directions to the Ivory family house, which is just up the street, and asks for an update afterward.

Demi thinks that the Ivory house looks like the White House, and she is stunned at how everything is white. A voice asks for her name through a speaker and then opens the gate for her. She has a bad feeling as she walks onto the property and is greeted by a man named Bradley.