In 1964, Lily Owens lives on a
South Carolina peach orchard with her abusive, widowed father T. Ray. Ten years earlier, then-four-year-old Lily had accidentally shot her mother, Deborah, as she was attempting to leave T. Ray. As Lily's 14th birthday approaches, she celebrates the signing of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 with her father’s Black hired help, Rosaleen. On the night before her birthday, Lily sneaks into the orchard, where she has secretly buried a few mementos of her mother, including a paper reading "Black Madonna Honey, Tiburon, SC." She places the picture of her mother on her stomach to feel closer to her as she lays back to look at the stars. Lily suddenly hears T. Ray calling for her and quickly hides her mother's belongings. She is caught hastily buttoning her shirt by T. Ray, who assumes she was there with a boy, and punishes her by having her kneel on a pile of grits for an hour. On her birthday, Rosaleen takes Lily into town under the pretense of fitting Lily for a bra, but also to give Rosaleen the opportunity to register to vote. The pair encounters a group of racists who beat Rosaleen after she stands her ground against their intimidation, and she is arrested. T. Ray retrieves Lily and takes her back home, but she runs away and breaks Rosaleen out of the hospital, where she is being treated for her wounds while she awaits jail. They head for Tiburon, with Lily hoping to figure out more about her mother's past. A two-day trip brings Lily and Rosaleen to Tiburon where they find their way to the home of August Boatwright and her sisters, May and June. August has used her skills as a
beekeeper to build a successful business. Despite the incredulity of Lily's lies about Rosaleen and her circumstances, and June's suspicions, August takes them in, agreeing to provide room and board in exchange for labor. Lily becomes an apprentice beekeeper, and later discovers May's "
wailing wall", tucked full of notes about events that have distressed the brittle and sensitive May, as well as her twin sister April, who died in childhood. She also learns about August’s leadership of a small group of women who pray to the life-sized statue of a
Black Madonna in the Boatwright’s living room for guidance. In time, Lily grows close to Zach, the teenaged son of one member in the prayer group and August's assistant beekeeper. Lily and Zach attend a movie together, but when they ignore the segregation rules, sitting together in the "colored" section, Zach gets kidnapped by a group of townspeople. June and August hide the news from May to try to protect her, but Zach's mother reveals the news to her accidentally. May drowns herself out of grief, but predicts in her suicide note that Zach will be returned alive. Indeed, Zach is returned the next day. With May's funeral comes some reconciliation and truth. June agrees to wed her long-time boyfriend, whom she had previously rejected repeatedly. Rosaleen is asked to be part of the household family, and August says they will call her "July". Lily, who already believes she killed her mother, now blames herself for Zach's kidnapping and May's death. She has a breakdown, convinced her mother did not want her, feeling unloved and unlovable, and resigns herself to leave before she causes any more harm. Before she is able to go, August challenges her outlook, and tells Lily about her mother, for whom August cared as a child in
Virginia and later sheltered from the abuse of T. Ray. Meanwhile, T. Ray has figured out where Lily is and comes to Tiburon to take her home. When she refuses to leave, August, June, and Rosaleen form a phalanx of support. Lily confronts T. Ray about her mother, and he admits he had lied before: Deborah really had come back for her. With angry reluctance, he leaves her to be raised by the Boatwrights. ==Cast==