Artist's apprentice Myra Whitlock has been barely making ends meet since the disappearance of her parents a year ago. She's been left to care for her ailing younger sister and to keep the secrets of her magical talent to alter humans and animals through her portraits, which could endanger her and her sister's lives. When the governess discovers her secret and blackmails her into creating a portrait of her dead son in order to bring him back to life, Myra is thrust into a mystery involving the son who was murdered and whose killer still roams the halls of the governor's mansion.