Set in the heyday of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War era, Right of Passage explores the social change and conflict involved in that period. The emotional development of Chris, a middle-class black man, is explored—being black in white society, conflicting cultural allegiances and the contradictions of his inner life. Chris meets Miriam, a white fellow academic, an irresistible mutual attraction complicated by fear and self-doubt, and the resistance of their families. Against a background of racial conflict, interwoven with day-to-day scenes of black middle-class life, this is a picture of the inexplicable and transforming power of love, and the irony, humor, and pain involved in measuring up to self-professed humane ideals.