What begins as a hobby to create an easy-peeling apple for her pies becomes German immigrant Hulda Klager's driving purpose: a time-consuming interest in plant hybridization that puts her at odds with family and community, as she challenges the early 20th-century expectations for a simple housewife.

While growing in confidence as a photographer, 18-year-old Jessie Ann Gaebele’s personal life is at a crossroads. Hoping she’s put an unfortunate romantic longing behind her as “water under the bridge,” she exiles herself to Milwaukee to operate photographic studios for those owners who have fallen ill with mercury poisoning. But even a job she loves can’t keep painful memories from seeping into her heart when the shadows of a forbidden love threaten to darken the portrait of her life.