Melinda lives alone with her grandmother, who has raised her since she was 7 years old. Things are quiet at the Victorian-style mansion. Melinda goes to University to study medicine every fall and comes back to live with her grandmother during the summers. As Gramma Plum got on in age, Melinda realized that she would soon have to stay at home to care for her full time. Her grandmother was growing more sickly as the years went by, and it looked as if her schooling would have to be put on hold for the time being.
     There was no one else to care for her grandmother. At the age of 7, Melinda's father had walked out of the house they all shared after a fight with her mother, who had also disappeared shortly thereafter. Melinda would remember the night her father vanished for the rest of her life. She thought back on it often, painfully recalling how her world had been shattered that night.