Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s, it follows the story of Skeeter Phelan and some maids working for white families in the city, commonly called "the help" (hence the title of the book).
Aibileen has begun to work for Mrs. Elizabeth Leefolt after resting for months after her son's death. She takes care of Mrs. Leefolt's baby, Mae Mobley, and develops a strong love for her. Her friend, Minny Jackson, is an excellent cook, but she can't hold a job because she blabs at her employers. Her most recent job was for Mrs. Walters, Hilly Holbrook's mother. Skeeter Phelan, a young white woman, has just graduated from the University of Mississippi. She sticks out and is very tall, so her mother worries she will never get married.
One day, Hilly suggests an initiative that would create segregated bathrooms for the help in white people's homes. Skeeter, as editor of the Jackson newsletter, is supposed to put this in, but she can't do it. She begins to see the injustices the white people put upon their Black servants, and wonders what happened to her childhood maid, Constantine.
Minny has landed a new, high paying job, but her employer is odd. Mrs. Celia Foote is nervous that her new husband will realize that she's worthless at being a housewife, and refuses to let Minny and him cross paths. Minny agrees to teach her things on the condition that she eventually tell's Johnny (her husband).
Skeeter starts to ask Aibileen about what could have happened to Constantine, but she's hesitant to say anything. She also sends in a job request to Harper&Row. She doesn't get the job, but Elaine Stein, a senior at the company, tells her that she might consider an original manuscript Skeeter sends in. She begins to get the idea of exposing how the help are treated.
When Aibileen is asked to share her story, she's terrified of what might happen, but realizes that it's necessary to bring change. She tries to get her friends to tell their stories as well, but they are all too afraid. At the same time, things are escalating in Skeeter's life. Hilly begins to suspect that something is going on, and actually discovers Jim Crow laws that Skeeter has been carrying around. After she tells all the ladies in town, Skeeter is alienated.
Skeeter continues with her work anyway, trying to get more stories. The tipping point comes when Hilly's maid gets caught stealing an old ring so that her children can afford to go to college. Hilly had refused to loan her a little extra, and she believed she had no choice. All the other maids decide to tell Skeeter about their experiences, and she gives everyone fake names so no one will realize. Aibileen also tells her what happened to Constantine. Despite neither parent being white, her daughter was, so she sent her up North to be adopted. One day, when she came down for a visit, Skeeter's mother was appalled that she dared to act white, and told her to get lost. The daughter spat at her, and she was told to never return. Constantine went to Chicago with her, where she died a few weeks later.
Meanwhile, Jackson is starting to get dangerous, and Minny proposes a failsafe. If she tells what she did to Miss Hilly, Hilly, the most powerful woman in town, can't do a thing. So she tells how, when Hilly accused her of not feeding her old mother and stealing, she fed her a pie. Except it was filled with poop.
So the book gets published, and actually ends up on a TV show where the host claims that it's about Jackson! All the women rush to buy a copy and start discovering that they have been written about by their maids. They're in a catch 22 - they want to fire the maids, but then people will know that they are in the book. Hilly madly rushes to cover up Minny's story while threatening Skeeter and Aibileen. Skeeter actually gets a job at Harper&Row, which she leaves for. Hilly makes Elizabeth fire Aibileen, much to the dismay of Mae Mobley. But Aibileen has taught her that all people are equal, and realizes that she doesn't want to be a maid anymore, and can start a new life.
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