Charleston, South Carolina, 1995. 

Fifty-four-year-old Eleanor Miller, a scion of a wealthy family and widow of the immensely rich banker Emerson Miller, is extremely racist, harsh, and callous even towards her three children. Eleanor, who has been confined to a wheelchair for the past eight years following an accident, refuses to have black domestic staff; however, her white maids, unable to endure her offensive behavior, leave one after the other. Her daughter, Harriet, who has taken on her care, suffers as she realizes that her mother uses her as a servant. Her middle son, Ernest, is more lenient and tolerates her, but her eldest, William, is in constant conflict with her. Until a young mixed-race woman, Victoria, appears at her mansion, begging for work. With no other choice, Eleanor accepts her on a trial basis.

Victoria, a very unique girl, gradually and in her own way, touches the stone heart of Mrs. Miller, inadvertently revealing very well-hidden secrets that shock everyone around her. Even Mrs. Miller herself.