Starr’s father, Maverick, is a former gang member who spent time in prison before he could extricate himself from the street life. The tragedy of Khalil’s death tears through a neighborhood already fragmented by drugs and violence from deeply entrenched gangs. She hides her involvement from her Williamson friends and her white boyfriend, Chris, before the truth comes bubbling up and Starr realizes which of her friends are worth keeping. Throughout the weeks that follow Khalil’s death, Starr must grapple not only with her own guilt and trauma, but also with white classmates who use the event as an excuse to get out of class or imply that the officer had done society a favor by shooting a drug dealer. Starr ultimately embraces activism herself by advocating for justice for Khalil on a nationally-televised interview and brazenly joining street protests after a grand jury fails to indict the officer who shot Khalil. As time passes, however, she loses her reluctance, serving as part of the police department’s investigation, speaking to the local defense attorney, and hiring a lawyer from a local activist group. The grief, confusion, anger, and fear that Starr must deal with in the aftermath of Khalil’s death make her initially unwilling to identify herself as the sole witness of the night’s events. When Khalil opens his car door to ask Starr if she’s okay, the officer opens fire, and Starr watches her friend die. The officer pats Khalil down and walks back to his car. Starr and Khalil flee the scene and are pulled over by a police officer for driving with a broken taillight.
Starr has just started to catch up with Khalil-her best friend from childhood, who has entered the dangerous world of drug dealing since Starr began attending prep school-when a gang dispute leads to a dancefloor gunfight. At the party, Starr is acutely aware of the double-sided personality this lifestyle engenders: she tries not to act “ghetto” at school, but neighborhood kids accuse her of abandoning them for white friends. Starr’s family lives in Garden Heights, a predominantly black and impoverished urban neighborhood, but she and her brothers attend a ritzy and mostly white private school forty-five minutes away. The novel opens on 16-year-old protagonist Starr Carter attending a spring break party with her friend, Kenya.
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