Antionette is a young girl who is a daughter of an ex-slave owner. She lives at Coulibri Estates in Jamaica with her mother Annette, Pierre her handicap brother, and Christophine their servant. They aren’t accepted in their neighborhood because they are white and used to own slaves. She only has one friend, Tia. Tia is the daughter of one of the servants. Tia turns against Antionette one day for no reason. She calls Antionette poor and trashy.
Annette gets married to Mr. Mason in Spanish Town. A year later they decide they want to move, but before they could plan anything, they were forced to leave Coulibri Estates. All the servants had started their house on fire and were yelling and throwing rocks at them. Myra, a servant, was supposed to be watching Pierre, but left to join the servants outside for the protest. Pierre dies of severe burns. Their bird Coco tried flying from the blazing house but couldn’t make it. Everyone ran when the saw the parrot. In their culture it means bad luck when parrots die.
They move to Spanish Town with Aunt Cora. Antionette attends a convent school. She learns about womanhood.
A couple of years later Antionette is arranged to marry Rochester. They move to the Winward Islands. Rochester doesn’t remember much about the wedding. He doesn’t feel any loves towards her. He feels that his father and brother tricked him into marrying a lunatic.
Antionette asks Christophine for a love potion to give