Starr Carter is a 16-year-old American black girl who lives in the fictional, black neighborhood of Garden Heights, but attends a white private school, Williamson Prep. After a gun goes off at a party Starr is attending with Kenya, her brother’s half-sister, Starr is driven home by her childhood best friend, Khalil. While driving home, they are stopped by a white police officer. The officer tells Khalil, who is black, to exit the car; while outside the car, Khalil reaches through the driver-side window to check on Starr and he picks up a hairbrush. The white officer sees Khalil has an object in his hand and fires three shots at Khalil. Starr runs to Khalil and the officer tells Starr to sit then discovers that Khalil had a hairbrush, not a gun. Khalil’s death becomes a national news story. Starr’s identity as the witness is initially kept secret from about everyone outside Starr’s family – leaving Starr’s two best friends, Hailey Grant and Maya Yang, and Starr’s white boyfriend, Chris, who all attend Williamson Prep together, all unaware of Starr’s connection to the news story. Having to keep this secret weighs on Starr, as does her need to keep her Williamson and Garden Heights personas separate.