The following version of the book was used to create this study guide: Perez, Ashley Hope. Out of Darkness. Lerner Publishing Group, Minneapolis, MN 55401. 2015. Kindle AZW file.

Naomi has just moved from San Antonio to New London, Texas, with her younger siblings, twins Beto and Cari. Naomi's mother Estelle married the twins' father Henry Smith when Naomi was very young. Within a short time, Estelle had miscarried several times before giving birth to the twins. She died just days later, leaving Naomi to serve as mother to the babies. Henry left the children in the care of their grandparents. Now the twins are seven, their grandparents are struggling to get by, and Henry has decided to be a dad after making an impetuous profession of faith at the New London Baptist Church. With Pastor Tom urging him to do the right thing, Henry has taken up residence in one of the tract homes owned by his employer, the Humble Oil company. In spite of having more food and a better house and school here, Naomi cannot think past Henry sexually molesting her when he was married to Estelle.

Naomi takes over all the duties of a mother but insists on staying in high school to graduate as a means of spending as much time as possible away from Henry's house. Henry makes it clear he is attracted to Naomi, in spite of her demands for him to keep his distance. Henry sometimes renews his determination to be a good father, but he is demanding and controlling. He does not have the ability to nurture the children and openly berates Beto for not being tougher. Naomi, Beto, and Cari are desperate for friendship by the time they meet a Black boy named Wash. He is the son of educators who chafe at the restrictions because of his race. Wash and Naomi soon fall in love. While hiding their feelings, they begin trying to find a way they can be together.

Henry, prompted by his pastor, decides he should marry Naomi. Naomi is repulsed by the idea even though others believe the marriage makes sense. They cite reasons, including that Naomi already acts like a mother to the twins and that marrying a mature, stable man like Henry is a good decision. Naomi and Wash realize they have to hurry their plans, but they do not know where they could go that people would allow them to live in peace. Wash knows that Black men have been lynched for looking at a white woman and that he would face the same fate in most communities, even though Naomi is Mexican and faces racism as well.

The community is highly dependent on the oil industry. Natural gas, a byproduct of the oil wells, is literally filtered off into pipes and burned as waste. Many in the community are connected to those pipes, using the free gas to heat their homes and power their cook stoves. The New London school where Beto, Cari, and Naomi attend has recently changed to that power source. One day, Wash is hired to help check all the stoves in the school for leaks. He and the maintenance man find nothing amiss after checking most of the building and stop short of checking them all. Beto and Cari get in trouble together. Beto is angry at Cari and refuses to let her sit with him in class that day. Naomi is outside the home economics classroom when the pipeline explodes, blowing up the main building and killing hundreds. The men of the community move every bit of the rubble, gathering the bodies of the dead, pieces of children too small to identify, and the wrecked building. Cari is among the dead. When the funerals finally finish, the men of the town go looking for someone to blame. Some remember that Wash was angry months earlier about the lack of supplies for the New London Colored School. Others remember Wash was at the school just before the explosion. A group goes to the Fuller house with plans to lynch Wash and his father Jim, but Pastor Tom talks them out of it. Wash and his parents know they have to get out of town, and Wash insists on taking Naomi and Beto with him. Henry catches them before they leave and rapes Naomi. He then kills both Naomi and Wash. He tries to make Beto shoot Wash as well, but Beto shoots and kills Henry instead. Jim takes Beto to San Antonio, leaving him with his grandparents. Beto grows up to be one of the first highly-educated Mexican Americans. Then, and only then, does he settle down to write this story.