It is 1964 in Sylvan, South Carolina, and Lily Melissa Owens, a fourteen-year-old white girl, lives on a peach farm with her father, T. Ray, who is both neglectful and abusive. Lying in bed in her room at night, Lily is often visited by bees that seem to be at home with her. Lily holds a terrible and guilty secret: She believes she shot and killed her mother, Deborah, when Lily was four years old. Her vague memory of that day — when her parents were arguing and she picked up and shot the gun that her mother had dropped — continues to haunt her, and she yearns to know more about her mother.
Lily has a housekeeper/nanny named Rosaleen Daise, who has cared for Lily for ten years. When Rosaleen watches President Johnson sign the Civil Rights Act on television, she decides she will register to vote. She and Lily walk into town but are accosted by three white men who harass Rosaleen. Rosaleen angrily pours the contents of her snuff jar on their shoes, and the men beat her right in front of Lily. The police arrive and arrest Rosaleen, taking her and Lily to jail. When T. Ray comes to pick Lily up, he is angry and berates her for such stupid behavior. He also scares her when he explains that Rosaleen may be killed by the men she insulted. This terrifies Lily because she loves Rosaleen. Once home, Lily stands up to her father during an argument, and T. Ray hurts her by saying that ten years ago her mother was only coming back to get her clothes; that is, that she had planned to abandon Lily. Earlier, Lily captured some bees in a jar, and now she sees they have escaped. Like the bees, she also plans to escape, leaving behind her abusive father and freeing Rosaleen.
