In the fashion of a picaresque novel, it deals with themes of motherhood, telling the story of a girl named Astrid who is separated from her mother, Ingrid, and placed in a series of foster homes.

Astrid is hospitalized for a few weeks, at which time she begins abusing the prescription drug Demerol.

After recovery Astrid is sent to live with Ed and Marvel Turlock, and their two small children, essentially as an unpaid babysitter.

In particular, she makes racist comments about their next-door neighbor, a beautiful African-American sex worker named Olivia Johnstone, whom Astrid befriends.

Despite her wealth, Amelia starves her foster children, and Astrid resorts to eating from the garbage at school.

Astrid, now 17, is placed in MacLaren Children's Center (known as "Mac") where she meets an artistic boy named Paul Trout.

One day, after getting high on LSD, Astrid begins to have memories of a woman named Annie.

Astrid is upset and gives Ingrid a choice: to have her testify or to see her daughter return to the person her mother knew her as.

Astrid spends her time buying suitcases and transforming them into individual art pieces representing her different foster homes.

Ingrid Magnussen: Astrid's manipulative mother, who is jailed early in the novel for her murder of her lover Barry.

Olivia Johnstone: An African-American high-class sex worker Astrid befriends while living with her second foster family, the Turlocks.

Claire has a weak relationship with her husband, poor self-esteem, and commits suicide after encouragement from Ingrid.

Rena Grushenka: Astrid's final foster mother, a tough, business-savvy Russian woman.

[2] The novel also deals with the nature of art; self-reflection and creation; survival of the fittest; and perfection versus imperfection.

[5] The novel was adapted into a film, White Oleander, released in 2002 starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Renée Zellweger.