The novel opens in fall 2007 with the interview of an immigrant from Cameroon, Jende Jonga, who is hoping to be hired as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a Lehman Brothers executive.

Jonga's job allows him to pay his wife's college tuition and send money back home until the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers threatens both families.

[1] Mbue was inspired to write Behold the Dreamers after walking past the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle, where she noticed black chauffeurs waiting for white executives and wondered about "the intersection of their lives".

[6] Mbue was inspired to become a writer after reading the Toni Morrison novel Song of Solomon, which she had picked up because it was filed on a separate shelf in a Falls Church library after it had been selected for Oprah's Book Club.

[6] In 2014, Mbue signed a million dollar deal with Random House for Behold the Dreamers, which was then titled The Longings of Jende Jonga.