Everyone in Liberty knew the story of Eleanor Blackmar Cline - how her husband had taken up with a colored girl half his age, how he had flaunted her before his wife, and how she had scandalously insisted that the girl be brought to live with them and earn her keep.

Haunted and catlike, with the desperate look of someone lost, Natalie proves to be a beautiful, uninhibited spirit who changes the lives of those around her.

She brings life to the Cline household as to a dormant garden: to Adam, Eleanor's son, a studious and often worried boy, she brings a connection he cannot express and a longing he cannot explain; to Eleanor, encumbered by the restrictions of her husband and her small, fettered life, she brings a laughter that has been silent for years and a strength she has never known. Ultimately finding the courage to leave her small-minded town and abusive husband, Eleanor pursues her own path until, some fifteen years later, she is forced to return to the son she left behind and his enchanting young wife.

Having once found the strength to stand alone, Eleanor must now find the courage to reach out to others.