1885. Nora Shipley has graduated from Cornell University as valedictorian of the entomology program. To get her master's degree and take over the scientific journal her father started, she needs to win a scholarship. Nora joins a research expedition in Kodaikanal, India, to prove herself in the field. India isn't what she expects. Neither is the rival classmate who accompanies her, Owen Epps. Forced by the expedition leader to stay at camp and illustrate exotic butterflies the men of the team find without her, Nora befriends Sita, a young Indian girl who has been dedicated to a goddess against her will. Nora is soon faced with between saving Sita and saving her career, and between what she's always thought she wanted and the man she has come to love.