The exploration of Gender Identity drives several of the novel’s key conflicts. The story is told from the perspectives of a transgender character, Sam, and a cis-presenting character, Miel, navigating coming-of-age arcs and the experience of falling in love. Anna-Marie McLemore reveals Sam’s transgender identity slowly—calling him by a gender-neutral name, using male pronouns for him, and referring to him in the introductory chapter as “the boy called Moon” (3) with no additional context. This narrative choice normalizes Sam’s gender identity, immediately asserting the novel’s position that Sam is a boy; no additional context is needed or required. Grounded in this premise, McLemore reveals pieces of Sam’s backstory and transgender identity as the novel progresses, acknowledging both the internal and external challenges he faces in his arc toward self-acceptance.

McLemore also explores the intersectional discrimination that Sam and Miel face in their town because of their racial and cultural backgrounds. While the setting of the novel is never specified, it’s clear that Sam and Miel’s school is majority white and conservative, and structured in such a way that the reveal of Sam’s transgender identity can be weaponized against him.