Autobiography of My Dead Brother opens at the church funeral for fourteen-year-old Bobby Green, who was killed in a random drive-by shooting. The attendees include Jesse Givens, a fifteen-year-old friend of Bobby and the novel's first-person narrator; Jesse's mother; Jesse's fifteen-year-old friend C. J., who plays the organ at the service; and Rise, Jesse's seventeen-year-old friend. After the church service ends, Jesse, C. J., and Rise go to a nearby park.