Brothers and Sisters is a novel about the complicated interplay of race, gender, and class in Los Angeles after the Rodney King riots of the early 1990s. Esther Jackson, the main character, is a manager at a bank, where she faces gender and race discrimination. Over time, the race and gender dynamics at the bank intensify.

The novel explores what it is like to be the lone black woman of power surrounded by whites, most of whom are men. Eventually, Esther befriends Mallory Post, a white woman manager at the bank, and feels comfortable sharing more of herself and her identity with Mallory. Still, Esther at times feels the strain between herself and Mallory and between herself and LaKeesha, a black woman and single mother who Esther hires at the bank. The novel is an exploration of the ways in which race and gender do not always unite people but interact in complicated ways.

The book is also an exploration of the ways in which it is difficult for an educated black woman to find companionship. Esther winds up dating Tyrone Carter, who is not her equal in terms of income and education. In the end, Esther must walk her own path, as must Humphrey Boone, the educated black man who is hired to be one the bank's managers. Each character must find a way to navigate his or her way in a world where race, gender, and class can tear people apart more than bring them together. The world that Campbell depicts in her novel is one in which the personal is political and in which the Rodney King riots still loom over Los Angeles.