A young woman begins her adult life with the shadow of her mother's untimely death hanging over her head. The dark cloud seems to mean a life of hard work and poverty ahead when a mysterious letter arrives and changes her future The apparent blessings which subsequently are heaped on her turn into a curse as she learns about old secrets. For every blessing, there seems to be an equally disastrous event and it all culminates with a tragedy during the week of the Portland Rose Festival.