Twelve-year-old Della Kelly feels that she's the only one who can help save her mother from the mental illness that has taken over her mind again. While her father struggles to keep the family farm alive in the shadows of a savage drought that is rocking the region, Della sets out to find a cure for her mother in the magic honey made by a mysterious local woman known as the Bee Lady. But some illnesses are too much for the curative powers of even the most magical remedies.