Content Warning: This novel features references to the dehumanizing treatment of women and children as well as depictions of suicide. Additionally, the source material uses offensive terms to refer to Romani people and people with mental health conditions throughout, which is replicated in this guide only in direct quotes.

In New York City, the ghost of Samuel Morse is looking for a witch, while Jenny Greene, a sex worker, is looking for her next customer. At the Great Bridge, Lena McLeod is imploring the river not to kill her husband. In a tea shop by Madison Square Park, Adelaide Moth and Eleanor St. Clair help their customers with their magical gifts.

In Stony Point, a small town outside of New York City, Beatrice Dunn records her astral and weather observations in her quest to note inexplicable anomalies. Nervous and excited, she counts the days until she can go to New York and apply for the shop girl position at Tea and Sympathy, Eleanor and Adelaide’s tea shop. If she doesn’t get the job (or any other employment in New York), she plans to return to Stony Point and live an ordinary life with her aunt.