Seven generations of women . . . A shared legacy passed down from mother to daughter . . . And the secrets kept hidden between them.

Fourteen-year-old Tati is determined to uncover the identity of her father.

But her mother, Nadia, keeps her secrets close, while her grandmother, Gladys, remains silent about the family’s past. As Tati digs deeper, she uncovers the truth of her lineage, still whispered at kitchen tables and murmured in basements, where the ritual of braiding or pressing hair takes place every Saturday night.

From Jubi in 1917, whose attempt to pass for white ends when she gives birth to Ruby; to Ruby’s fiery lust for Sampson in 1934 that leads to a baby of her own; to the night in 1980 that changed Nadia’s future for ever, the Dupree women confront a legacy of pain, resilience and survival that began with an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom.