In 1913, a small girl (about 4 years old) arrives on a ship to Australia. She’s alone, with nothing but a small white suitcase containing a beautiful book of fairy tales. She cannot remember her name or where she came from, and she has been entrusted to someone called “the Authoress” who had promised to look after her—but that person disappears without a trace.

The dockmaster and his wife in Maryborough, Queensland, take the girl in, raise her as their own daughter, and name her Nell O’Connor.

On Nell’s 21st birthday, her adoptive father tells her the truth: she is not their biological child. This revelation shatters her worldview and sense of identity.

Years later, after her father dies, Nell receives the small suitcase again as an inheritance. Inside is the fairy tale book, written by someone named Eliza Makepeace, who had once been known as “the Authoress.” Nell becomes determined to trace her origins—her parents, who she really is—and the mysterious link to Eliza. Her search leads her to Cornwall in England, particularly to a place called Blackhurst Manor and Cliff Cottage, which used to belong to Eliza.

In 2005, after Nell’s death, her granddaughter Cassandra O’Connor inherits Cliff Cottage and the estate garden, known locally as “the forgotten garden.” Cassandra, who has her own emotional scars/tragedies (loss in her life), takes up the quest to finish what Nell began. She tries to piece together the clues: the fairy tale book, old letters, local history, and the myths or hidden histories around Blackhurst Manor.