"The story follows Iris, the plain younger daughter of Margarethe Fisher, as she takes care of her mentally-challenged older sister Ruth and her stepsister Clara. Having fled from England to Haarlem, Iris is slightly at odds with the world and often contemplates the value of beauty and ugliness. While caring for her sisters and keeping the peace between Clara and Margarethe, Iris develops a painter's eye and spends time apprenticing with a local painter known as The Master, and his apprentice, Caspar. On the verge of losing everything after a sudden drop in their stock market, Margarethe devises a plan for Iris and Ruth to attend the ball being held in honor of the Dowager Queen of France and her godson, the Prince of Marsillac. She leaves out Clara because she knows full well that if the girl wed the prince, she would abandon her family and they'd end up in the poorhouse. While at the ball, Ruth does the unthinkable for jealousy and love of Clara and Master. That night the fairy tale of Cinderella and her pumpkin carriage is spun, and the next morning her prince comes to collect her"