"Jim Crow don't live in New York!" That's what did it, the magic words Cheryl Wilson's best friend, Bettie, said to convince her to leave her family and a good teaching job behind. Determined to snag secretarial jobs at a new publishing company and open the door to a world of opportunities closed to them back home, the two young women board a train bound for the Big Apple. They soon discover, however, that career prospects for most Negroes were as limited in 1951 New York as in the segregated south. Then things take a turn when Cheryl is offered a position with real advancement potential-but only if she can keep the truth about her background a secret. As she learns to manage the constant anxiety that comes with living a lie, things get even more complicated when she falls for a passionate young editor with a hair-trigger temper. Will she succeed at living a double life? Or will she lose everything in the process?