Daisy McCrae's life is in tatters. She's lost her job, broken up with her boyfriend, and has been reduced to living in the attic above her family's store, the Union Street Bakery, while learning the business. Making things worse is the constant feeling of not being a real McCrae, since she was adopted as a child and has a less-than-perfect relationship with her two sisters. Then a long-standing elderly customer passes away, and for some reason she bequeaths to Daisy a journal dating back to the 1850s, written by a slave girl named Susie. As she reads, Daisy learns more about her family--and her own heritage--than she had ever imagined. Haunted by dreams of the young Susie, she is compelled to look further into the past of the town and her family.