Caucasia is the story of Birdie and Cole, sister activists living through the Civil Rights Movement in the 1970s. Born to a white mother and a Black father, Birdie is light-skinned, while Cole is dark-skinned. Though they promise to stick together through thick and thin, their parents decide to separate, and Cole is taken to Brazil by her father. Without her sister by her side, white-passing Birdie attempts to navigate 1970s America, learning the complexities of race and identity in a season of personal and social change.