In the United States of the 1950s, there is peace, prosperity, and the American Dream. Aiming to claim their fair share of it, Taylor and Esther Payne begin their lives as a married couple in the haven of Haverly Street in Greenwich Village, New York. Here they can have their love and their license, and though their journey is one of love and trust, it is not without its challenges. As a Negro woman, Esther learns to live in Taylor's white world no longer as his housekeeper but as his wife. In addition to the social conventions that are still against them, even in New York, Esther fears that their marriage has exacerbated the distance between Taylor and his family. Taylor won't talk about it. He is dismissive of his sister and uncle, but Esther is haunted by their absence. She yearns for their family to be whole-but what she learns in the process may endanger their happiness permanently. Set in New York in the 1950s, this novel tells the story of a bold passion between two newly married people as they change their ways for the sake of love.