Velma Henry is brought before Minnie Ransom for a healing. Velma, an activist who has become cynical of the movement and especially of the egocentric men who attempt to lead it, has recently channeled her cynicism into cutting her wrists and placing her head in the oven. Alive, wrists bandaged, gown flapping open in the back, she sits before a dozen friends and neighbors as Velma and her spiritual guide Old Wife try to bring her back. The book centers on this moment, sweeping backwards and forwards and around the Southern town where each of these people live and work and hope for better days. The opening question lingers through every page, perhaps unanswerable, or perhaps only to be answered by the whole: “Are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well?”