The Chinaberry Tree (1931), Fauset's third novel, is a tale of the lives and loves of two generations of African-American women. Its seemingly quiet small-town setting is the backdrop for such bold and explosive issues as adultery, incest, miscegenation, lust, envy, and deception.

The story focuses on two women: Laurentine Strange, the beautiful daughter of a common-law interracial union, tormented by the idea that life has passed her by because of her "bad blood"; and her cousin Melissa Paul, a self-confident teenager to whom even darker secrets are revealed.