[1] It was developed from (with the prologue specifically adapted from) her short story "The City Born Great", first published in her collection How Long 'til Black Future Month?

The avatar is chased through the streets by shape-shifting creatures attempting to take over the city; he defeats them but is wounded and destroys the Williamsburg Bridge in the process.

A black gay graduate student new to the city gets off a train and is struck with amnesia; realizing that he is the avatar of Manhattan, he takes the name Manny.

Manny and Brooklyn search the Internet and sense the avatars of the Bronx and Queens, an Indian PhD student named Padmini.

At the Center, Bronca reviews a painting titled "dangerous mental machines" (a term for Asian New Yorkers coined by H. P. Lovecraft in a racist letter) by the "Alt Artistes", an alt-right group controlled by the Woman in White.

São Paulo meets her and tries to get her to join the other avatars, only for her to hurt him with an energy wave when the Woman in White tells her that the cities are assaulting her home.

The New York Times review stated, "In the face of current events, The City We Became takes a broad-shouldered stand on the side of sanctuary, family and love.