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Lily finds bees in her walls. She lives with her 

father, T. Ray, and her housekeeper and 

nanny, Rosaleen. Sadly, her mother ran-away 

when she was only four years old. She keeps a 

tin can with all her mother's memories buried 

in her backyard. Lily finds a picture of a black 

Mary and studies it.

Lily accompanies Rosaleen to register to vote 

and there were some mean men there making 

fun of Rosaleen's skin color. They were 

bothering her so she decided to do something 

about it. "Can you please stop it!" "NO, I 

WON'T STOP!" said one of the men. She 

started to defend herself and the men got 

angry so they detained both Lily and Rosaleen.

T. Ray comes and gets Lily out, but leaves 

Rosaleen behind. he tells her, "Lily, the man 

that attacked Rosaleen is named Franklin 

Mosey and is one of the meanest people in 

town!" He grounds her and she brings up her 

mother. Its a subject that her father does not 

enjoy talking about. He becomes angry so she 

decides to run away.

On the back of her mother's black Mary picture 

it says "Tiburon", so that's where she's 

headed. She manages to sneak Rosaleen out  

and they begin to hitchhike. Someone was nice 

enough to take them to the little towns. Lily 

tells Rosaleen about what T. Ray said about 

her mother and she gets upset. They fight and 

split apart. Later she finds her bathing in the 

river and they bathe together.

They begin walking through town and they 

spot the Frogmore General Store. Lily notices 

that there are rows and rows of Black Madonna 

Honey jars with the picture of the same black 

Mary that she carries around in her pocket that 

once belonged to her mother. The clerk tells 

them that the maker is August Boatwright and 

she is convinced that this lady has met or 

known her mother.

They arrive to the Boatwright house and they 

find August wearing a beekeeper's helmet and 

working with the beehives. Her sisters, June 

and May are right behind her. Lily gets a nasty 

look from June. They were welcome in and she 

tells them lies of why they're there. Rosaleen 

is getting mad because Lily is putting words in 

her mouth.

August explains what she does in the bee farm 

and Lily finds a stone wall fill with slips of 

paper. They've been there for about a week 

and they learn about all of the sisters. There is 

a boy named Zach that helps out with the bees 

as well. August teaches Lily all about the bees 

and the love they need. April is May's twin 

sister that sadly died and May is very sensitive 

due to this tragedy. Rosaleen is becoming 

jealous and Lily wants more information 

without revealing the truth.

Lily discovers June sweetheart Neil. June refuses 

to marry him but he refuses to give up asking 

her hand in marriage. The Daughters of Mary is 

August's spiritual community. They praise the 

black mary statue that they're so devoted to. 

They call the statue "Our Lady of Chains." Lily is 

beginning to get feelings for Zach and so is Zach 

for her. Rosaleen confronts Lily about staying in 

the house so she moves to May's room to keep 

her company. Zach gets Lily a notebook and he 

explains that society will never allow them to be 

together and she begins to write right away.

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