The story starts off in Sylvan, South Carolina where a 14 year old girl named Lily and her maid Rosaleen, and her abusive father, T. Ray. When Rosaleen is arrested, Lily rescues her and they run off to Tiburon, South Carolina, because she believes that that city has some connection to her dead mother. She saw “Tiburon” written on a piece of paper with a black Mary and spots the same black Mary on her way to Tiburon and she asks where that came from, and she later arrives at the Boatwright home. Lily learns the ways of a beekeeping apprentice, and after a while she meets Augusts godson, Zach, whom she falls in love with shortly after meeting. This surprises her as she is white and he is black. Zach then takes lily to the store, where he meets
