The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Moniz, Dantiel W. Milk Blood Heat. New York: Grove Press, 2021.

Milk Blood Heat is a collection of 11 short stories.

In the title story, two 13-year-old girls, Ava and Kiera, develop a friendship based on their mutual feelings of alienation as they enter adolescence. They often play a game of hypotheticals in which they imagine different ways they might die. One day, they attend a birthday party at a hotel. During the party, they sneak up to the roof, and while playing their usual game, Kiera jumps, landing on the sidewalk below and dying instantly. In the aftermath, Ava grieves for her friend, but she feels a significant moment of reconciliation with her mother, who seems to understand her sorrow.

In “Feast,” a woman named Rayna grieves for the miscarriage she had nine months earlier. Her husband, Heath, is frustrated that she is unable to move past this tragic event. Rayna picks up Heath's six-year-old daughter, Nila, from school and brings her home, but when Nila shows her a picture she drew of Rayna and her unborn child as an angel, Rayna locks herself in the bathroom and refuses to come out. When Heath returns, he is angry with Rayna for neglecting Nila. Rayna accuses Heath, who is white, of not wanting a mixed race child. She goes to the local aquarium and sees an octopus eating its own tentacles. She feels a moment of kinship with the animal and believes they are both on the cusp of a new beginning.

In “Tongues,” 17-year-old Zey becomes alienated from her church and her family after her pastor tells her that women are supposed to be “subservient” (36). She refuses to continue attending church, which causes her younger brother, Duck, to tell his friends at school he believes Zey is “possessed” (40). An older boy, Rylan, makes a sexually suggestive comment about Zey and Duck fights him. After hearing about the fight, Zey goes to Duck's school and tells Rylan she wants to have sex with him. She invites him into a closet, where she grabs his penis aggressively and tells him she will “rip it off” (46) if he bothers Duck again.

In “The Loss of Heaven,” a man in his 50s named Fred struggles to understand why his wife, Gloria, will not undergo chemotherapy after her cancer has recurred. Fred believes firmly in traditional gender roles, and the loss of control he feels surrounding this situation causes conflict in his marriage and his life. He goes to his favorite bar, the Albatross, and drinks too much alcohol. Afterward, he is mugged in the parking lot. He returns home and cannot look at himself in the mirror.

In “The Hearts of Our Enemies,” a woman named Frankie contends with a rift that has developed between herself and her teenage daughter, Margot, as a result of Frankie almost having an affair. Frankie finds a love note in one of Margot's pockets and learns that it is from a teacher at her school, Mr. Klein. She goes to confront Mr. Klein at his house, but when he is not there, she takes the snails from his aquarium and cooks them, then feeds them to him as escargot.

In “Outside the Raft,” a woman named Shayla recalls an event from her childhood. She grew up alongside her cousin Tweet, who was raised by their grandmother because her parents were in prison. Shayla recalls her mother telling a friend that she saw “darkness” (103) in Tweet. One day, Shayla's father took the girls to the beach. Deep in the ocean, they lost control of their raft and Shayla held onto Tweet to keep herself afloat, even though Tweet was struggling to keep her head above water. She never told anyone about this incident, and she wishes she would have explained to Tweet that everyone has some “darkness” in them, but this does not mean a person is undeserving of love.

In “Snow,” 23-year-old Trinity is newly married to her husband Derrick, but senses that her feelings about him are beginning to change. She goes to her job at a restaurant and flirts with a co-worker, R.J., who gives her cocaine and invites her to a party after work. A Vietnamese woman named Snow comes into the restaurant, and she and Trinity bond over their experiences as women of color often “fetishized” (121) by white people. In the bathroom, Snow sprinkles holy water over Trinity and makes cryptic remarks about her relationship with Derrick. Afterward, Trinity decides to go home to her reliable husband instead of attending the party with R.J.

In “Necessary Bodies,” a woman named Billie struggles with the decision of whether to have a baby or terminate her pregnancy. Her sister Violet comes to town for their mother's 50th birthday party and suggests she simply pretend like she has decided to have the baby and see how it feels. Billie goes to a department store and runs into a friend from high school. She speaks enthusiastically about her pregnancy and finds herself feeling excited, just as Violet said she would. At the birthday party, Billie has a shot of tequila, then feels guilty for drinking while pregnant and attempts to induce vomiting. When she returns home, she imagines all the different lives she could potentially live and seems to settle on having the baby.

In “Thicker Than Water,” a young woman named Cecelia drives across the country to scatter her father's ashes with her brother Lucas, whom she has not spoken to in a year, and Lucas's girlfriend, Shelby. As they drive, Cecelia recalls her father's illness and how Lucas refused to donate an organ to save his life when he was hospitalized. She then remembers her father sexually abusing her when she was a child, memories that she has attempted to repress. These memories provide insight into Cecelia's relationship with her father and Lucas's decision not to help him.

“Exotics” is narrated in first-person plural by the staff at an exclusive Supper Club where wealthy patrons dine on exotic animals. The staff disapproves of the patrons' wealth and their eating habits. At the end of the story, it is implied that the Supper Club eats a human baby. The staff continues to work there because they need the paychecks.

In “An Almanac of Bones,” a preteen girl named Sylvie lives with her grandmother because her mother, Helen, is constantly traveling the world. Sylvie's friend Kit's mother calls Helen a “gypsy” (186), which angers Sylvie, because she does not like other people disparaging her mother. Helen comes to visit during Sylvie's grandmother's “moon festival” (185), and she and Sylvie have a philosophical discussion about motherhood. Though Sylvie resents her mother for her absence, she also respects her for living life on her own terms.