In an area known as "The Waters" to the residents of nearby Whiteheart, Michigan, herbalist Hermine "Herself" Zook has healed the local women of their ailments for generations. She inspires reverence and fear in the people of Whiteheart, and even in her own three estranged daughters. The youngest - Rose Thorn - has left her own daughter, eleven-year-old Dorothy "Donkey" Zook, to grow up wild. Donkey spends her days waiting for her wayward mother, unaware that family secrets, passionate love, and violent men will upend her idyllic childhood. Rage simmers below the surface of this divided community, and the only bridge across the waters is Rose Thorn.