A young girl grows up in a clairvoyant family, but does not really know what that means for her. Her mama ha tried to keep her out of it, but eventually the dreams start coming. The young girl avoids sleeping so she does not have to see the dreams. Her Aunt Dissy, a mysterious, older woman slips whiskey into her tea to force her to fall asleep. Around the house they live in are generations of portraits of ancestors, all named Dissy. One night in her sleep, the paint chips from the ceiling and covers the young girl, and her mother dies. The girl is forced to move in with her aunt, but not long after, she passes away too. Dissy starts to realize that she must take over the family tradition, but she has never been taught how to read the family book. She misinterprets several people’s dreams, so she attempts to give up. But the dreams do not stop coming, and she must try her best to survive.