Bride is a successful and beautiful woman, but a deeply unhappy child inside. Her mother, Sweetness, was emotionally distant from her and was ashamed of her daughter because of her skin color. Bride's only happy childhood memory is of performing in court, and she now curses that day. In her novel, Toni Morrison tells about the cruelty of her mother, the rudeness of the world around her, and the rebelliousness of a little girl who longs for love. This is not just a book about family and difficult life situations, it is a story about what childhood resentments later grow into.