[1] The novel explains the origin of Olivia Winfield (the grandmother in Flowers in the Attic), the events that cause her to become the cold, domineering mistress of Foxworth Hall, and Corinne's childhood and eventual betrayal.

It is the fifth novel of the Flowers in the Attic series but considered the prequel, as the story told takes place prior to the events of the first book.

While he is attracted to beauty and seems likely to consider an affair, it is obvious he lacks enough patience and true feeling for such an entanglement.

Shortly after Joel is born, Malcolm's father Garland comes back to Foxworth Hall with his new wife, Alicia.

Malcolm is enraged to discover that she is pregnant, thinking that her child will inherit part of Garland's fortune.

When Alicia spurns his advances, Malcolm is convinced that she is leading him on and vows to make her pay dearly.

On the night of Christopher's third birthday, Garland catches Malcolm trying to rape Alicia, gets into a violent argument with him, has a heart attack, and dies.

Soon Alicia confesses to Olivia that Malcolm has been coming to her bedroom and raping her, threatening to throw her and her son out on the street penniless if she does not yield.

Olivia hires new servants as an extra precaution to safeguard their secret, but she fears that Malcolm's interest in Alicia remains.

As months pass, Olivia begins to think of Christopher as another son and is heartbroken when Alicia suddenly and quietly leaves with him after the birth of a daughter.

In the years that pass, Corinne grows up into a happy but spoiled girl and Malcolm continues to be emotionally distant from his sons and wife.

He often criticizes the boys to Olivia and is upset that Joel exhibits little interest in his business, though Mal seems to be willing to follow in his father's footsteps.

Joel soon leaves on a tour of Europe with a professional orchestra—against his father's wishes—and receives fame in several European newspapers.

After Christopher graduates from college and Corinne has finished high school, a letter of acceptance arrives from Harvard.

Finally he breaks, and asks Olivia to hire a private detective to find out what happened to Corinne.

Olivia does not tell Malcolm about the children because she believes that he will want to see his grandchildren and become bewitched by their beauty, especially the girls'.

Years later, Corinne writes to tell of Christopher's death in a car accident and to seek shelter.

The book ends with Olivia silently vowing to keep her heart hardened against the children and to keep them forever hidden from the world—while feeling just as imprisoned as they will soon be.

This book also clarifies the suspicious marriage of Corinne and John Amos (mentioned in If There Be Thorns), considering the latter's obvious disgust with incest.

Her betrayal is likely due to the fact that she was spoiled by her father and grew up in wealth, so once the children were in the attic, she turned her attention toward getting her inheritance.

Corinne claims in Petals On the Wind that she did put arsenic on the doughnuts, but her plan was not to kill them—it was to get the children sick one by one and take them out of the attic "to the hospital," then come back and tell Olivia that they had died.

However, this claim seems doubtful, as Corinne and her husband Bart moved out of Foxworth Hall after Cory died, and she did not seem concerned with helping the remaining three children escape.

Supporting cast includes Kelsey Grammer, Harry Hamlin, Kate Mulgrew, Paul Wesley, T’Shan Williams, Hannah Dodd, and Alana Boden.