The story opens with a description of Michael and Anne Carraway, a well-to-do white couple living in Greenwich Village who "went in for Negroes." "The Village" is considered liberal and bohemian, and the Carraways think of themselves as liberal and bohemian as well as artistic: Michael composes piano music and Anne paints. They "adore" and collect African-American art and music and attempt to cultivate friendships with blacks— whom they consider "a race too charming and naive and lovely for words." The Carraways are unable to sustain ongoing interracial relationships, although they do have a live-in black cook and maid, "dear Emma."

After Emma "took sick and died in her room in their basement," the Carraways hire a new black maid, Mattie, and then meet Emma's nephew, Luther, "the most marvellous ebony boy." Anne longs to paint him, so they hire him to maintain the "garden...