Seventeen-year-old Nore Robbins is staying with her father Chuck, stepmother Lisette Bergé, stepbrother Gabe, and stepsister Josie at their Louisiana plantation during the summer. Nore's father recently remarried after her mother died less than a year ago, and this was her first time meeting her stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister. During her time there, she notices unusual behavior from her new family. During dinner her first evening, Josie mentions she was in Hartford when the Ringling Circus tent caught fire. Nore finds this odd considering Josie is a teenager and the event occurred in the 1940s. A woman at the supermarket, Elaine Shannon, thought she recognized Lisette from twenty years ago, but Lisette says that she must be thinking of her mother, who Lisette stated had the same name. Nore is puzzled by this statement because Bergé is not her maiden name, but a name she obtained from a previous marriage.