The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Laymon, Kiese. Long Division. Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2021.

Kiese Laymon's novel Long Division is written from Citoyen "City" Coldson's first person point of view, and in the past tense. The novel employs an unconventional structure which toys with the boundaries between fiction and reality, author and narrator, and past, present, and future.

In Book One, City Coldson was a teenager living in Jackson, Mississippi with his mother, and attending Fannie Lou Hamer Magnet School in 2013. City's biggest concern was beating his classmate and arch nemesis at the upcoming Can You Use That Word in a Sentence contest.

On the day of the contest, City realized that the competition was using him and LaVander, both Black teenagers, for their own twisted political advantage. Furious, after receiving his first word on stage, City launched into a tirade about racism, and the system's abuse of Black individuals like himself and LaVander.

On his way home, City knew his mother would scold and punish him for making a scene on national television. In order to prove to her that he had learned from his mistakes, he started recording his own version of what had happened. That night, when City's mother got home, she did not confront City about the contest. Instead, she called City's grandmother, and arranged for him to visit her in the small coastal town of Melahatchie.

At Grandma's, City felt guilty for embarrassing his grandmother on television. After she whipped him for his bad behavior, she expressed her love and concern for him.

In the next few days, City spent time with his friends in Melahatchie. However, every experience and encounter led to some new and terrible conflict. One day while out with his friend MyMy, City was attacked verbally and physically by a group of white men. When Grandma discovered what they had done to her grandson, she kidnapped their leader, Sooo Sad, and chained him in her shed.

City soon discovered Sooo Sad, and started visiting him in secret. During these visits he read to Sooo Sad from the curious book, Long Division, that he had borrowed from his principal. The book intrigued City because its main character's name was also City, and because many events, places, and characters in the book resemble those in his real life.

Eventually City realized that if he wanted to solve the mysteries going on around him, he must, like the characters in Long Division, enter a porthole in the local woods.

In Book Two, City Coldson was a teenager living with his mother in 1985. In this version of City's life, City's primary preoccupation was with his love interest, Shalaya Crump. Whenever City visited his grandmother, Mama Lara, in Melahatchie, City got to spend time with Shalaya. Shalaya would not reciprocate City's love, and was constantly talking about the future.

Desperate to win her affection, City agreed to time travel with Shalaya in order to figure out what would happen to her in the years to come.

City and Shalaya descended into a porthole in the woods, and traveled both to 2013 and back to 1964. In 2013, they met Baize Shephard. In 1964, they tried helping Evan undo past evils to save his family. City and Shayala encountered both the racial horrors of the past, and the disturbing nature of social relations in the present. In order to make change for the better, City had to learn to make sacrifices for the ones he loves.