Sockey details the life and times of a nine-year-old African-American boy from the Brewster Projects of Dtroit to the suburbs of Inkster, Michigan. Insights into sociological changes from 1949 to 1958 and how they affect Sockey are woven throughout his involving story. Bullying, fears, first love, and an intense desire to move out of the projects are issues that he has to deal with. Once in the suburbs he is confronted by the issues of divorce, prejudices, and the division between and within the races in the fifties.