On the Australian coast, miles away from the nearest town, nine-year-old Alice Hart lives in fear of her father's dark moods. She is sheltered only by the love of her mother, Agnes, and Agnes' beautiful garden.

When tragedy changes Alice's life irrevocably, she is sent to Thornfield, a native flower farm run by the grandmother she has never known. Thornfield gives refuge to women who, like Alice, are lost or broken, and it is there that Alice learns to use the language of flowers to say the things she cannot voice.

But as she grows older, Alice realizes that there are things that even the flowers cannot help her say. Family secrets are buried deeper than the flowers' roots and, if she is to have the freedom she craves, she must find the courage to unearth the most powerful story she knows: her own.