On the verge of their home being foreclosed, Corrine reveals to the children that as a young woman, her marriage to Christopher so offended her multimillionaire father Malcolm Foxworth that he disinherited her.

Now, the elderly Malcolm is dying of heart disease and Corrine intends to return to her childhood home of Foxworth Hall in Virginia to win back his affection in time to be reinstated into his will.

At Foxworth Hall, Corrine’s mother (called only "the grandmother") locks the children in a bedroom connected to the house's large attic.

Chris and Cathy attempt to make the best of the situation by decorating the attic with paper flowers to create an imaginary garden for the twins.

The grandmother catches Chris staring at a half-dressed Cathy and punishes the children by cutting off their food supply for over two weeks, while they pray their mother will reappear in time to save them.

Over the next several months, he and Cathy take turns slipping downstairs to their mother's suite to steal cash and jewelry to fund their lives outside.

The children are devastated, with Cathy left wondering if Cory's death is God's punishment for her sexual assault by Chris.

Eavesdropping on the servants, Chris learns their grandfather died a year ago and that the grandmother has been leaving food contaminated with rat poison in the attic due to a "mouse infestation".

Chariho High School in Rhode Island removed it because it contained "offensive passages concerning incest and sexual intercourse."

"[4] In 1987, the book was adapted into a film of the same name, starring Louise Fletcher, Victoria Tennant, Kristy Swanson, and Jeb Stuart Adams, and directed by Jeffrey Bloom.

A second adaptation was released on January 18, 2014, on Lifetime, starring Heather Graham as Corrine and Ellen Burstyn as the grandmother, with Kiernan Shipka as Cathy, Mason Dye as Christopher, and directed by Deborah Chow.

In 2022, the Lifetime network released a television limited series called Flowers in the Attic: The Origin, starring Kelsey Grammer and Kate Mulgrew.

The four-episode miniseries is a prequel that focuses on Olivia Foxworth, and is largely based on Garden of Shadows, the fifth novel of the Dollanganger series.