When Marie-Grace discovers a baby outside her father's office and a slave catcher claims the boy, she helps place him at a white orphanage where she becomes a volunteer, as her friendship with Cécile grows and she hears rumors of yellow fever.
As the yellow fever epidemic continues to ravage New Orleans and the orphanages become more crowded, Marie-Grace and Cécile help with the orphans, until Marie-Grace learns that her Uncle Luc's fiancée, Mademoiselle Océane, has fallen ill.
Cécile is enjoying her older brother Armand's return from France and her growing friendship with Marie-Grace, with whom she volunteers at an orphanage, until the yellow fever epidemic theatening New Orleans strikes her own household.