The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Serpell, Namwali. The Furrows. Penguin Random House LLC., 2022.

Namwali Serpell's novel The Furrows is written from the first person points of view of Cassandra, or Cee Williams, Wayne Williams, and Will. Throughout the novel, the author subverts conventional notions of the novelistic plot structure. The narrative embraces repetition and reiteration, dream sequences and flashbacks. These temporal and formal distortions enact the author's overarching explorations regarding the ways in which loss and grief impact the individual psychologically. For the sake of clarity, the following summary employs a streamlined mode of explanation.

When Cee Williams was 12 years old, she and her family took a vacation to the Bethany Beach area. They rented a house near the shore. Every morning, her parents Bernard and Charlotte, sent Cee and her younger brother Wayne out to the water to play. One day, after Cee buried Wayne in the sand, she looked up to see him caught in the current. Though she tried to help, Cee ultimately could not save Wayne from drowning.

In the hours following, Cee retold her version of events to her father, mother, grandmother, and a policewoman. The more she retold the story, however, the less true it seemed. She particularly began to doubt herself when the policewoman insisted that she tell the adults where Wayne was. She soon realized that her mother in particular was resistant to believing her account.

Not long later, Charlotte founded Vigil. The foundation was meant to support families of missing children, and specifically to raise money to help find Wayne. Although Cee became involved with the foundation as a teenager and young adult, she believed it was founded on a lie: that her brother had not died and would eventually resurface.

Although Cee resented her mother for disbelieving her story, she had recurring dreams about encountering her brother alive. In the dreams, she would meet an attractive man she would soon discover was her brother.

Some years later, while traveling to California, Cee met a man who resembled the men from her dreams. She was attracted to him, but also noticed his resemblance to her brother. She became even more confused when she learned that the man had the same name as her brother: Wayne Williams.

Wayne, Cee's new lover, had been searching for Cee for some time. When he heard about Vigil, he thought Cee's family could be the family of his boyhood rival, yet another boy by the name of Wayne Williams. He therefore wanted to get close to Cee and Charlotte in order to find Wayne and exact his revenge.

Will, a man imprisoned for life, also wanted revenge on his childhood rival. When another boy named Will started imitating his mannerisms and dress, Will became angry and violent. He was soon accused of committing a crime he was convinced the other Will had committed.

Once Wayne and Cee finally told one another the truth of their childhood traumas, the two achieved a newfound understanding. Cee realized that Wayne was not her brother, but that they could share something even more beautiful and redemptive. With Cee, Wayne was also able to let go of his past mistakes and hatred, and to embrace love and reconciliation.