Immediately after the events of Flowers in the Attic, Cathy, Chris and Carrie travel to Florida after escaping Foxworth Hall.

When they reach Clairmont, South Carolina, Henrietta "Henny" Beech, a mute African-American woman, rescues the children and takes them to the home of her employer, 40-year-old widower Dr. Paul Sheffield.

At first the children refuse to reveal their identities, but once Cathy is convinced that Paul genuinely cares and might be able to help them, she tells him their story.

Cathy suspects that the bleeding was actually a miscarriage, the result of her sexual relationship with her brother Chris; however, she does not mention this suspicion, telling herself that it is in the past and all that matters is her ability to dance.

Though the children thrive under Paul and Henny's care and start fulfilling their dreams (Chris heads to college and then medical school; Cathy gets into a local ballet school and then one in New York City), Cathy is still bent on revenge against their mother Corrine, knowing she is to blame for everything wrong in their lives.

Devastated, Cathy runs to a man in her dance troupe, Julian Marquet, who had been pursuing her since the day they met, and agrees to marry him immediately.

Meanwhile, Carrie meets a young man named Alex and enjoys a sweet courtship, until he says he plans to be a minister.

Frightened by the memory of her abusive grandmother's religious rants, Carrie purchases powdered doughnuts and arsenic and attempts suicide.

Corinne breaks down, claiming to be the real victim because her father had known his grandchildren were hidden in his home, and he wanted them to die in captivity.

Corinne says she stashed the body in a ravine, but Cathy accuses her of hiding it in a small room off the attic that gave off a telltale odor.

After Chris drags Cathy from Foxworth Hall, he informs her that Henny has had a stroke and, while trying to help her, Paul suffered a massive heart attack.

Cathy dreads what will happen if their secret is exposed, and the book ends with her stating that she has been having strange thoughts about the attic in their house and has put two twin beds up there.

[1][2] It starred Rose McIver as Cathy, Wyatt Nash as Christopher, replacing Kiernan Shipka and Mason Dye from the previous movie, respectively, and Will Kemp as Julian Marquet, with Heather Graham as Corinne and Ellen Burstyn as Olivia Foxworth.