Born in post-Civil War Alabama, Emily Jane Whitworth is the seventh and youngest of three daughters and four sons. With limited household help, and the disrepair of their plantation home, Pinebelt, having another child leaves Lillie with deep resentment when she learns she is expecting Emily. In uncertain and difficult times Benjamin Whitworth, Emily's father, struggles to make a living raising cotton and cannot restore the plantation home - partially destroyed by fire by Union soldiers in the last days of the war. Benjamin, a perfect southern gentleman and loving husband tries to humor Lillie, but over the years her resentment grows. When Emily overhears that she was not wanted when she was born, she becomes very ill. Although her rejection by her mother is softened with love from her sister Louise and her beloved aunt, Bettie Auntie, Emily sets her heart on a lifetime journey to find love.