The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Stone, Nic. Clean Getaway. New York: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2020.

The novel opens with the 11-year-old protagonist William “Scoob” Lamar being picked up by his grandmother, whom he calls “G'ma,” in an RV. She tells him she has just sold her house to buy the vehicle and she invites him on a road trip. Scoob has recently gotten in trouble at school and been grounded by his father, James, so he is particularly anxious to get away.

They begin their trip by crossing the Georgia border into Alabama where they stop for lunch. At the restaurant, Scoob tells G'ma about a fight he got into at school because a bully was picking on his friend Shenice's brother. As he talks, Scoob notices he is attracting disdainful stares from the other diners, and he assumes this is because he is a black boy eating with his white grandmother. After lunch, Scoob and G'ma visit a state park, where G'ma shows Scoob the box where she keeps important belongings. Inside are some maps, photographs of Scoob's grandfather Jimmy, and a book called the Travelers Green Book. G'ma tells Scoob that she took a road trip with Jimmy in 1968 and the Green Book told them where they could safely stop throughout the South as an interracial couple without risk of harassment. G'ma and Jimmy were unable to make it all the way to Mexico as they had planned, and G'ma hopes to recreate the trip with Scoob, but to finish it this time. All Scoob knows about his grandfather is that Jimmy went to prison for theft and died there. Scoob also knows little about his own mother, Destiny, who left the family shortly after Scoob was born. However, he does know that Destiny has recently been calling his father asking to meet Scoob.

Scoob wakes up one morning and sees G'ma changing the license plate on the RV. They visit the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where a bombing killed four little girls in 1963. G'ma laments Jimmy's imprisonment, wishing she could “go back and fix it” (55). Later that night, he hears her saying the same thing in her sleep. He then goes to the front of the RV and finds her phone, which has 17 missed calls from his father.

Driving through Mississippi, they stop at a jewelry store. Scoob tells G'ma about another incident at school in which he had shown some other students how to change their grades in the school computer. When his classmates were caught, they blamed Scoob. Scoob's father told him that, because he is black, he will be judged more harshly than his white peers. Back in the RV, Scoob sees G'ma with a pair of pink earrings that look identical to the ones she tried on in the jewelry store. Scoob pretends to call Shenice on G'ma's phone, but actually listens to one of the voicemails his father has left. The message makes it clear that James has not heard from G'ma and that he has no idea where they are. Scoob grows anxious about G'ma's strange behavior.

In Jackson, Mississippi, they stop at the former home of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, who was killed there in 1963. G'ma cries as she recalls being pulled over by police while on her original trip with Jimmy. After they were let go, they decided to return home because G'ma had realized she was pregnant. That night, Scoob plans to use G'ma's phone to call his father, but he cannot find it. Instead, he stumbles upon stacks of cash hidden in a cabinet. He feels even more anxious and homesick.

The next morning, Scoob tells G'ma he wants to call his father, but she says she threw her phone away. They drive into Louisiana and stop at a convenience store, but Scoob leaves when he realizes the clerks are staring at him. Scoob and G'ma discuss Jimmy again, and G'ma says that he did not steal everything the police thought he did. They arrive in Texas and visit a Six Flags amusement park.

Scoob wakes up the following morning and finds a note from G'ma stating that she went to get supplies. He turns on the television and happens to see a report about an Amber Alert for himself and G'ma; James has reported them missing. The report says authorities received a tip about them being in the area, and Scoob realizes the convenience store clerks must have called it in. That evening, while they are parked in an RV park, G'ma tells Scoob that she had actually stolen some of the jewelry that Jimmy had been charged with taking, and she never admitted it, nor did she visit him in prison. She has suffered from guilt about this for years, and even James does not know the truth about his father. G'ma collapses, and Scoob runs to another RV and asks for help. G'ma is rushed to the hospital, and Scoob goes along with her. He falls asleep in a chair and when he wakes up, his father is in the room with him. Scoob rushes into his arms.

The doctors tell James and Scoob that G'ma has late stage pancreatic cancer; she had been sick for months and refused treatment, telling no one about this. They drive back to Atlanta in an RV, including G'ma and a nurse. G'ma dies 17 days after their return. James apologizes for being so harsh on Scoob and tells him it is okay with him if he would like to meet his mother. Scoob says that he is not ready to do this yet. Later, he opens G'ma's box, where she kept her prized possessions, and discovers a secret compartment. It contains a note to Scoob thanking him for coming on the road trip with her, along with a stash of jewelry. Scoob asks his father to go on a trip with him. They drive down to Mexico and Scoob buries the treasure box on the beach.