The plot of The Help ( film ) takes place in 1962 .
In 1963 , Aibileen Clark is an African-American maid in Jackson , Mississippi , and in intermittent voice overs she tells her `` career '' story to the aspiring writer Eugenia `` Skeeter '' Phelan , a recent graduate of Ole Miss and a friend of Aibileen 's employer and fellow socialite Elizabeth Leefolt .
The Help -LRB-film-RRB-