Ashley is a creative writing graduate student who is one thesis away from graduating. Miles Blake, a celebrity murder mystery writer comes to her university to teach. She gets assigned to be his TA, and they strike up a sort of friendship.

Tender caresses and enveloping embraces are portals into the life of Mack, a Black woman in Mississippi. Winding through the anticipation, love, and heartbreak she experiences from childhood to adulthood, the expressionist journey is an ode to connection — with loved ones and with place.