The story is told by a young Black man named Mitch, and is a flashback to his childhood in the United States in 1969, when he was eight years old. Mitch lived with his struggling white single mother, Louise. One day, Louise decides to pack up the family's meager possessions into their aging Cadillac and set out on a cross country journey, promising Mitch that it will be the "Best Month Ever!" The reason for this sudden change is tragic: Louise is terminally ill and has less than a month left to live, so she wants to find a safe home for Mitch to live in after she dies. Mitch and his mother bond over the ensuing few weeks against the social, economic, and racial turmoil of late 1960's America.
