Clare Kendry is living on the edge. Light-skinned, elegant, and ambitious, she's married to a racist white man unaware of her African American heritage and has severed all ties to her past after deciding to "pass" as a white woman. Clare's childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, and is simultaneously allured and repelled by Clare's decision to engage in racial masquerade. Clare's interest in Irene turns into a homoerotic longing for Irene's black identity that she abandoned, and she's forced to grapple with her decision to pass for white in a way that is both tragic and telling.