In the year 1906, 16 year-old Mattie Gokey reaches a turning point in her life after she trades working on her father's deteriorating farm for summer work as a serving girl at a elaborate hotel in Adirondacks. As she begins pulling in money, Mattie does her best to keep a savings and come up with a decision on how she will spend it once the summer is over.
Having realized her talents early on, Mattie knows that she has a gift and passion for writing and is accepted to Barnard College in NYC, but then questions herself on how she'll move on with her life. She still has a sense of responsibility to her family back on the farm and her quickly blossoming love-story with the dull, handsome Royal Loomis. Royal who has awoken the sensitive, vulnerable side of Mattie she's never experienced or felt before and is curious to explore. Despite her setbacks she can't deny her desire and love for words.
While working at the hotel, Mattie gets involved in a young couple's disappearance who had gone out together in a rowboat. Before her departure, Mattie briefly speaks with the woman, Grace Brown, who handed her a packet of love letters and asked Mattie to burn them. But once Grace turns up dead, Mattie looks through the packet and reads the letters and realizes she may have the biggest clue in solving the woman's death and her lover's strange disappearance.
