Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.

Seventeen year-old Nell Margaret Sweetzer is found completely insane when trying to explain her possession by the demon called Abalam. After medical and psychological treatment, she is sent to the Deveraux transition house in New Orleans managed by Frank Merle, who helps her to start a new life. She finds a job as a hotel housekeeper, befriends her new roommates, and develops a crush on her coworker, Chris. Soon, Nell comes to realize that she is haunted by people from her cult... and by the same evil force that once possessed her. When Nell meets Miss Cecile, she tells Nell that she has been following her since the hospital. Further, she discloses that she belongs to the sect Order of The Right Hand, and that they can protect her from the evil in an attempt to divert the prophecy of an apocalypse. Will Nell accept help, and be protected from the extremely powerful, evil force Abalam -- Or will she come to accept... herself?