The eldest daughter in the Burke-Owens family is striking, with a gawky six-foot frame, milk-pale skin, and blood-colored hair that drips red onto the floor after she has been in water. Her sullen, ornery temperament and nerdy love of studying, whether science or the Owens family history in the library, make her the consummate outsider. Frances also possesses a special affinity with birds and has the ability to call them to her from her earliest infancy. Frances initially wishes to be free as a bird, fly off with the creatures she admires so much, and relinquish the human world.

However, as she confronts the Challenge of Being an Owens, she learns that her place is alongside humans. As the eldest child, she feels that her role is to look after her brother and sister, especially the former, given her visions that he will have a short life. She spends her life serving the Owens family interests as she nurtures the family plant-cures business and the Massachusetts plot in the interest of several generations.

On learning about the Owens family curse, Frances goes to tremendous lengths to prevent the growing attraction between Haylin and herself from turning into an actual relationship.