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The Bean Trees takes place in rural Pittman County, Kentucky, in the 1980s and its narrator is Marietta Greer, a young woman from an impoverished family. She begins the novel with an admission that she has always been afraid of putting an air in a tire ever since she saw a tractor tire blow up and send Newt Hardbine's father flying over the top of the Standard Oil sign. Although her name is Marietta, her Mama has called her Missy for years, ever since she was a three year old and demanded to be called "Miss Marietta" just as her Mama called her employers (the name soon shortened to Missy). Although not an outstanding student in high school, Marietta stays out of trouble and does well enough. By her senior year she is one of the few girls not to drop out of school, and feels it is the girls' "special reward" to get the science teacher Mr. Hughes Walter, a blond northerner who resembles Paul McCartney. Mr. Walter changes Marietta's life when he tells his students about a possible job opening at the hospital where his wife works. Marietta thinks that he will offer the job to a Candy Striper, but Mama insists that Marietta demand the opportunity and tell Hughes Walter that she is the best person for the job, "even if" he has already given it to a Candy Striper.
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