Sweet Home, Jamaica, Volume One is the first part of the two volume edition. Michelle Freeman, affectionately known as Shellie, was born in Jamaica but migrated to the UK with her parents when she was three years old. At age thirteen she accidentally discovers that her father's wife is not her biological mother. This shocking discovery leads her to begin a search for her birth mother and this search eventually takes her to Jamaica where she finds a large extended maternal family and develops a deep and abiding love for the island of her birth. After leaving school and university in London, where she studied journalism, Shellie decides to leave the UK and practise her profession in Jamaica. However, all is not plain sailing, as she encounters culture shock, prejudice and jealousy and comes to the realisation that her beloved island is not the idyllic paradise she had supposed it to be. Set in South London and on the beautiful island of Jamaica the story spans seventeen years, following the fiery and feisty young woman through her teenage years, young love and tragedy and into adulthood with more conflicts and clashes.