A sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976), the book is set in Mississippi in 1935, and continues the saga of the African-American Logan family as they struggle to make a living sharecropping during the Great Depression.

[1] Several trials and tribulations are faced by the family told from the perspective of the African-American experience, including issues of racism in the criminal justice system, interracial marriage, "passing", and poverty.

Mama's cousin Bud's daughter Suzella, who has a black father and a white mother, lives with the Logans.

Suzella is venerated for being attractive and mixed, making her seem like a prize to all the males in the town because she is technically black and therefore accessible, but still has lighter skin, hair, and eyes; she can be assumed as white.

She catches the eye of Stuart Walker, a white boy who flirts with pretty colored girls to start trouble.

With the help of Mr. Jamison, a white lawyer who is kind and fair to black people, Mama, Papa and Caroline Logan (Big Ma) contact police stations in the next couple of towns.