The following version of the book was used to create this study guide: Perrin, Valerie. Fresh Water for Flowers. Europa Editions, New York, NY, 2020. Kindle AZW file.

Violette Trenet appeared to be stillborn at birth. After the infant was revived, a midwife chose the name Violette at random. Violette's mother gave her up, and the child grew up in foster care. As an older teenager, she used fake identity papers to work at a bar where she met Philippe Toussaint. They soon began living together, and Violette became pregnant. Philippe's parents (known to Violette as Mother and Father Toussaint) do not approve of the relationship. They are wealthy and generally provide for Philippe so that he seldom works.

Violette and Philippe take jobs at a level-crossing. Their job is to lower a safety arm to keep cars off the tracks when trains are approaching. The job includes a small house beside the train tracks. It is supposed to be a two-person job with one person lowering the safety bar during the early part of the day and the other doing the job during the evening. Instead, Philippe is often gone; thus, Violette does most of the work herself. She gives birth to a daughter she names Leonine. From the beginning, Mother Toussaint insists on calling her Catherine. They spend a week each Christmas and a week each summer vacationing with Leonine.

One day, a workers' strike prompts the trains to come to a halt near Violette's crossing. Most of the travelers find alternative means of travel, but a woman named Celia and her young granddaughter are stranded. After Celia and Violette share an instant connection, Celia spends a night. Later, Celia extends an invitation for Violette's family to spend a couple of weeks each summer at her cottage in Marseilles. When visiting the cottage, the family enjoys the sun and freedom.

When Leonine is seven, Mother Toussaint issues an invitation for Leonine to spend a week at an exclusive camp. With a couple of weeks before the annual trip to Marseilles, Violette agrees. What Violette does not know is that Mother and Father Toussaint meet with Leonine at the camp. Father Toussaint, thinking he is being helpful, lights a faulty hot water heater in the bathroom shared by Leonine and three other young girls. The four children are asphyxiated by the time camp workers discover it. A worker who believes she will be blamed sets a fire to cover up the deaths. The official report is that the girls made themselves cocoa in the kitchen and accidentally started a fire. Years pass before Violette and Philippe discover the truth.

Violette is unable to attend the funeral or the trial. Eventually, she realizes she needs to see Leonine's tomb. At the Burgundy cemetery, Brancion-en-Chalon, Violette meets Sasha. He is an incredible man who is able to see what she needs in order to move on. When Sasha decides he is leaving his position as overseer for the cemetery, he urges Violette to apply for the job. The level-crossing job is being automated, and Violette convinces Philippe to take the job as cemetery keeper. Violette believes she convinces him by promising he will never have to actually work. Philippe cannot believe that Violette is actually going to keep him as part of her life.

Over the coming months, Philippe learns that his father is responsible for Leonine's death. He cannot bring himself to face Violette again and moves in with the widowed wife of his uncle, eventually having a sexual relationship with her. After several years pass, Violette meets a man named Julien who is preparing to bury his mother's ashes at Brancion-en-Chalon. Violette resists falling in love with Julien but eventually does. She sends a letter to Philippe, asking for a divorce. Philippe, ridden with guilt over how indifferent he was toward Violette and Leonine, drives his motorcycle off the road on purpose, planning to finally unite with his daughter in a way he had not while she was living. Violette and Julien spend more time together, and she realizes that she can find happiness in her life after all.