Etta's tiny dress shop might stand on a seemingly ordinary Cambridge street, but the vibrant racks of beaded silks and jewel-toned velvets possess a bewitching power to awaken a woman's deepest desires. Her granddaughter, Cora Sparks, has spent her life sheltered in the shop and her university lab, avoiding the mystery of her parents' deaths and overlooking Walt, the shy bookseller secretly in love with her. Determined to change Cora's fate, Etta weaves a plan that sparks a series of astonishing events, transforming Cora's life in extraordinary ways.