The following version of this novel was used in the creation of this study guide: Gabaldon, Diana. Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. Bantam Books. 2021. Trade Paperback Edition.

Part One: Part One: A Swarm of Bees in the Carcass of a Lion starts as Bree, her husband Roger, and their children reach the home of Bree’s parents, Jamie and Claire. Together, they finish a house for Bree’s family to share and celebrate the fact that they can see each other again. Eventually, it is revealed that most of them are time travelers, and Bree’s family fled an unknown group who tried to kidnap the children.

Meanwhile, William is captured by British soldiers while searching for his cousin Benjamin. He is saved by an old friend, Denys, who promises to give William any information he finds on Ben. William agrees to look for information on another man, Ezekiel, who is threatening to accuse William’s father of sodomy.

Around this time, Cleveland warns Jamie about the British soldiers looking for loyalists and Cleveland offers Jamie guns to defend their land. Jamie refuses, and becomes angry when Cleveland insults him.

In Part Two: No Law East of the Pecos, Claire, Jamie, and the rest of the family prepare for winter and resolve to rebuild whatever they can. Bree and Roger focus on the cabin that once acted as a church for the town. Roger recruits Captain Cunningham to help but also plans to keep an eye on the man as Jamie worries the Captain may be a loyalist. Meanwhile, Claire works to restore the garden and receives a new colony of bees from a traveler named Mr. Quincy.

In Virginia, William is surprised to find that his father’s old friend Maoke and William’s childhood acquaintance John Cinnamon are still living on the plantation. Eventually, William learns that John has strong reasons to believe that he is the son of William’s father, Lord John. While William initially denies the possibility, he decides to invite John on the trip to Savannah to confront Lord John together.

Back in Fraser’s Ridge, it is revealed that Jamie once murdered a gang after their leader sexually assaulted Claire. While he claims he did not want anyone in the Ridge to think he could not protect him, he confides in Roger that he did not want Claire to suffer any more than she already had.

Then, as the families on the Ridge prepare for the winter, a friend of the family Amy is brutally killed by a bear in front of Bree and the kids. This causes Bree to suffer from extreme anxiety as she realizes how close she was to death. Meanwhile, Claire and the other women - including Mrs. Cunningham - prepare the body while the men hunt down the bear that took Amy’s life.

In Part Three: The Bee Sting of Etiquette and the Snakebite of Moral Order William meets Lord John and Ben's widow, Amaranthus in Savannah. Cinnamon learns that his real father is Malcolm Stubbs, but Lord John provided for Cinnamon after Malcolm abandoned him. Meanwhile, William considers ways to renounce his title, though Uncle Hal says it is impossible.

Back on the Ridge, Captain Cunningham and Roger officially begin preaching at the meeting house. However, it becomes clear that Cunningham is a staunch Loyalist. Jamie also learns that their friend, Doctor Denzell, has been captured. Claire wants to write a letter to Lord John for help, but this causes a fight between her and Jamie. It is revealed that she once married Lord John after she believed that Jamie was dead. When Claire goes to Bree to write the letter instead, Claire teams that Bree has been suffering from a serious heart problem

Back in Savannah, Lord John writes a letter to Jamie asking that Bree come to take a commission. Secretly, Lord John hopes she can talk to William before he gives up on his inheritance. on the Ridge, Jamie announces that he is going to raise a militia. However, since he is not a Loyalist, he refuses to join raids against revolutionaries. This divides the Ridge, but Jamie knows it has to be done. However, the family knows they need guns. So, Bree decides to take Lord John's offer, while stopping in Charles Town for guns under the guise of Roger looking to be ordained.

Meanwhile, Lord John learns that Percy is Monsieur citron, his French opposite when Lord John was a spy in London. He refuses to work with Percy as he wants to escape that world.

Then, as Bree and her family head for Savannah, Rachel, Ian, and Jenny plan a journey to New York. Ian believes that a child of his former love may be his, and Rachel refuses to let him go alone.

At the same time, Claire helps a woman through a difficult labor. When one of the twins is stillborn, Claire pulls on an unknown power to bring the child back to life.

Part Four: A Journey of a thousand Miles, Small parts of the family break into their own journeys. Ian, Rachel, and Jenny travel to meet Emily. On the way, Ian rescues Silvia and her three children from a life of poverty after their father disappeared. However, Silvia is furious to learn that her husband Gabriel is alive and has a new family, She divorces him, heartbroken.

Meanwhile, Ian meets Emily and her son, Tótis who is likely Ian's. Worried that his stepfather will kill Jobs due to unsettling dreams, Emily asks Ian and Rachel to take him. They agree and Emily gives Oggy the name "Hunter" as a thank you.

At the same time, Bree and her family meet Fergus and his family in Charles Town. After Roger gains the Reverend's approval to be ordained, Fergus gets the smuggled guns at Jamie's request. Then, when Loyalists brim down Fergus's print shop, he and his family join Bree and Roger's.

Later, the families make it to Savannah where Bree begins her commission. Roger seeks out Marion for Jamie but ends up performing chaplain duties during the failed American siege. Then, after William meets Bree and joins her on more commissions, he learns that his cousin Dottie lost her child due to a fever. Dottie's husband, Denzel, took her away to recover, breaking his parole as a prisoner of war. However, when William goes to retrieve Dottie, he is shocked to learn that his cousin Ben is alive and fighting for the Americans. William manages to escape and debates on who to tell first.

Then in Part Five: Fly Away Home, Jamie is forced to fight when Captain Cunningham and his Loyalist allies attempt to capture Jamie to execute him as a traitor. Thanks to Mr. Cloudtree, Jamie is able to gather his own men and survive, albeit with a serious wound. Captain Cunningham, however, suffers from serious injuries, including a bullet to his spine that leaves him paralyzed. While Claire retrieves the bullet and cares for who she can, Jamie resolves to evict those who betrayed him.

Then, after Ian, Silva, and their families arrive, a man named Ulysses visits the Ridge with a letter proclaiming that Jamie must forfeit all of his land since Catholics are not allowed to own any. Realizing that Ulysses is doing this for himself, Jamie and his militia fight Ulysses's men, and Jamie brings back an injured soldier named Jackson who Claire takes care of. Once they ensure he is safely on the way to Charles Town, Jamie knows that they need to prepare for another fight.

Meanwhile, William confronts Amaranthus and tells Lord John the truth. However, they come to understand why she kept the truth from them and William redeveloped feelings for her. This abruptly comes to an end after Charles Town falls and Amaranthus leaves to find Ben. William follows her, only to learn that Ben married another woman. William asks Amaranthus to marry him and the two return to Philadelphia.

At the same time, Lord John is kidnapped by Ezekiel Richardson who plans to use John's life to stop Hal from convincing Britain to back out of the war. In doing so, Richardson hopes Britain will win, start the abolitionist movement in America, and avoid the suffering of the civil war. Lord John is able to get a message to William through his former lover Percy but remains trapped aboard a shop as Richardson tracks down Hal.

Back on the Ridge, Jamie and the other nearby militias all gather at King's Mountain to battle against the British army. During this, Jamie is shot and dies, but Claire is able to use her powers to bring Jamie's soil back to his body and save his life. This leads to a long recovery as the Ridge community tries to move on. However, the novel ends as William arrives to ask Jamie for help.