[4] The miniseries stars an ensemble cast of African-American actors and actresses such as Cicely Tyson, Oprah Winfrey, Jackée Harry, Robin Givens, Lynn Whitfield, Paula Kelly, Lonette McKee, Paul Winfield, Mary Alice, Olivia Cole, Moses Gunn, William Allen Young, and a brief early appearance by a young Larenz Tate.

After she becomes pregnant by local womanizer Butch Fuller, Mattie leaves home and stays with her friend Etta Mae Johnson until her son Basil is born.

By chance, she meets an old woman, Miss Eva Turner, who allows Mattie and Basil to live with her, and her baby granddaughter Ciel.

With nowhere else to go, she moves to Brewster Place, a run-down urban tenement, where she is welcomed by the now-adult Ciel and her infant daughter Serena.

A lesbian couple, Lorraine and Theresa, move into Brewster Place and are victims of Miss Sophie's homophobia.

Mattie, whose anger has finally overcome her apathy towards life, grabs a crowbar and starts to chip away at the much-despised brick wall.