A languid, impressionistic story of three generations of Gullah women living on the South Carolina Sea Islands in 1902.At the dawn of the 20th century, a family in the Gullah community of coastal South Carolina former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors' Yoruba traditions suffers a generational split. Young Hagar wants to move to the mainland away from tradition-bound matriarch Nana. Former prostitute Yellow Mary gets a cold shoulder when she returns to the island with her female lover, especially from her sister Viola.