Beka Lamb is set in the 1950's, in Belize. Beka Lamb is the name of the main character, and is fourteen years old when the novel begins.
Beka is introduced in the novel when she wins an essay contest. Amazed at her winning, Beka is still sad because her best friend, Toycie, passed away. The funeral, unfortunately, has not yet taken place.
In an apparently separate story, two British politicians are imprisoned for disloyalty to the British Government, their punishment as a harsh example for what will happen when people are disloyal.
Beka deeply considers what it means that Troycie is gone, and begins to tell the rest of the story is a sequence of flashbacks.
Beka loves her parents very much, and they pay for a private Catholic school for her. The school is expensive and her parents struggle to pay the bills, yet they still manage to do it. However, Beka does not work hard enough, and she fails all of her classes. She doesn't know how to tell her parents, but she won't be able to move on to the next grade level.
Beka lies to her parents, saying that she passed. However, her parents don't believe her, and the three engage in constant arguments on the topic. Beka, angry, steals money from her father, and he finds out. They are very mad at her for this, and realize that she takes what she is getting for granted.
Toycie, attending the same school as Beka, also has financial struggles. Her aunt wants her to be able to escape financial problems with an education, but Toycie gets pregnant against her aunt's warnings. Beka learns from Toycie's mistake, and takes a turn for the better, working harder to make her parents proud.
