Christopher Booker is a scholar who wrote that every story falls into one of seven basic plot structures: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, the Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. Shmoop explores which of these structures fits this story like Cinderella’s slipper.
Plot Type : Voyage and Return
Anticipation Stage and 'Fall' into the Other World
Writing from 1964, Lily Owens begins the novel pretty sad and lonely, yearning for her late mother (and a life that doesn't include her father's indifference/abuse). She ends up fleeing her hometown of Sylvan, South Carolina, with Rosaleen, an African American woman who works for her family. Lily is escaping from her father, and Rosaleen from the law. They head out to the nearby town of Tiburon, where Lily is hoping to find some friends of her mother's.
Initial fascination or Dream Stage
And find them she does. Almost immediately upon arriving in Tiburon, Lily easily tracks down the Boatwright sisters, who apparently knew her mother (although Lily is not yet clear on how). Lily is reluctant to be up front about her reasons for seeking them out, so she just tells them she and Rosaleen need a place to stay. The oldest sister, August, agrees, putting Lily to work in her honey-making operation and asking that Rosaleen help in the house. Lily and Rosaleen love being with the quirky Boatwrights, who live in a bright pink house, participate in unusual rituals (including a quirky, non-traditional pseudo-Catholic form of religious worship), and possess a colorful group of friends. However, Lily and Rosaleen are both fugitives in their own way, so they know things can't go on forever like that . . .
Frustration Stage
Things start to unravel when August's other apprentice beekeeper, Zach (who is African American), is arrested for a crime he didn't commit. First off, we have to slip in here that Lily and Zach would definitely have been dating by this point, if racial tensions during that time hadn't made it ridiculously dangerous to do so (since Zach is black and Lily is white). In any case, Lily and Zach have bonded, so Lily is obviously pretty upset about his arrest. Lily's awareness of prejudice—both within herself and within others—has grown steadily throughout the novel, and this incident provides yet another example of the dangers and injustices Zach and other African Americans confront during that time period.
Nightmare Stage
Zach's arrest touches off another crisis. May, one of the Boatwright sisters, is incredibly empathetic and sensitive to the problems of others, so she often goes into uncontrollable sobbing fits when she hears about something bad happening to someone else. Although her sisters try to hide news of Zach's arrest from her, she ends up finding out—and finds the news too much to bear. She commits suicide almost immediately. Her sisters and friends (including Rosaleen and Lily) are devastated.
Then, after everyone has mourned May, Lily decides the time has come to fess up about her true identity/backstory and ask August about her mother. She is devastated to find out that her mother had left her behind when she left T. Ray (Lily's father), and she has some serious feelings of abandonment in the wake of this news. Also, it makes her terribly afraid that she was not loved by either of her parents (she goes back and forth about whether T. Ray loves her). However, after a period of a kind of mourning, she works through these feelings (with some help from August and Rosaleen).
Thrilling Escape and Return
Then Lily has one final ordeal to endure: the second coming of T. Ray. Yup, her father finally figures out where she is and comes storming in, threatening to take her home. However, August and Lily convince him to let her stay.
Ironically, because she's not forced to go back to Sylvan, Lily can actually "come home" in a much more important (if metaphorical) sense. The Boatwrights gave her the first warm and loving home that she can remember, complete with a whole team of maternal figures running around. Thus, the end of the novel truly does represent a homecoming.
Moreover, the novel's events have opened Lily's eyes to the broad spectrum of complications, injustices, and heartaches that confront the people around her, and she has grown in an effort to meet these challenges and navigate this wider world. In short: She's come a long way, baby.