Through the alternating viewpoints of Skeeter, a recent college graduate who’s back at home and struggling to find her place; Aibileen, who works as house help for Skeeter’s friend Elizabeth; and Aibileen’s sass-mouthed friend Minny (also a maid), we get a picture of Jackson, Mississippi, 1962-1964.Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement as it’s taught in schools — Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, sit-ins at the Woolworth’s lunch counter — The Help paints the situation from a different perspective.