Following a suicide attempt, Sylvia Plath is sent to McLean Hospital, where psychiatrist Ruth Barnhouse helps set the talented writer on a path toward literary greatness. Plath's rival, poet Boston Rhodes, pushes her to write about her experiences, which risks tipping her into a fatal spiral of madness. In this fictionalized, multi-faceted portrait of Plath, Lee Kravetz also tells the story of Estee, a modern-day curator who finds the original manuscript of Plath's novel, The Bell Jar, and discovers that she's connected to its legacy in an unexpected way.