The Kitchen House

A white servant girl causes a tragedy that reveals the finest and worst aspects of the people she has come to call her family when she disobeys the rules of plantation culture. Seven-year-old Lavinia, who was abandoned while traveling from Ireland by sea, shows up on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she would live and work among the cook house slaves. Lavinia is raised by Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, and becomes close to them despite Belle's white color making her distinct from them.

Lavinia is eventually welcomed into the enormous mansion, where the mistress fights an opium addiction and the master is away. Lavinia is caught between two very different worlds, a precarious situation. Loyals are called into question, sinister secrets are revealed, and lives are in jeopardy as she is forced to make a decision.