Eighteen-year-old Brynn Taylor eagerly heads for college, ready to escape the aunt and uncle who resented being saddled with their orphaned niece. Her excitement to be on her own quickly turns to dismay when a hit-and-run accident totals her car, she discovers her aunt has stolen her college fund, and her credit card is maxed out.

Stranded in a throwback Wisconsin town, Brynn meets an aunt she didn't know she had. With nowhere else to turn, Brynn reluctantly accepts her new-found Aunt Nora's offer for temporary room and board. Rumors abound, and Brynn fears her aunt might be a witch—and that Brynn herself might share this unexpected family legacy. Are the goods made from Nora's garden—the ones she sells in her gift shop—more than herbal remedies and homemade bath products?

Brynn finds in Nora the family she's been missing since her parents died and allows Nora to teach her the art of alchemy passed down from one generation to the next. But past sins catch up to both Brynn and Nora, threatening their relationship and their lives.