The Bean Trees (first published in 1988) is the first novel by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist, and poet who holds degrees in ecology and evolutionary biology, and her work often addresses biodiversity, social justice, communities, and people’s interactions with their environment. The Bean Trees is a work of realistic adult fiction that follows Taylor Greer as she leaves her rural upbringing in Kentucky, drives across the country to Tucson, Arizona, and unexpectedly becomes the caretaker of a young toddler she calls Turtle. While Taylor prides herself on self-sufficiency and independence from men, her experiences in Tucson bring her closer to another single mother, Lou Ann Ruiz, and a pair of Guatemalan asylum seekers, Estevan and Esperanza. These characters eventually form a community and support one another in navigating the challenges of poverty, discrimination, and systematic inequality.

This guide refers to the Harper Paperbacks edition published in 1998.

Content Warning: The novel and this guide reference death by suicide, child sexual abuse, and racism.

Plot Summary

The Bean Trees centers on Taylor Greer, born as Marietta “Missy” Greer in rural Pittman County, Kentucky. She grows up with a single mother, who teaches her confidence and self-reliance. Although they live in poverty, the young girl obtains a job at a local hospital and earns enough money to purchase a used 1955 Volkswagen Beetle. After graduating from high school, she sets out on a road trip across the US to make her own path, renaming herself after a road sign she sees along the way announcing the town of Taylorville.

When she stops for car repairs in Oklahoma, Taylor encounters a Cherokee woman, who gives her a “baby” and tells her that no one else can care for the child. Unsure what to do, Taylor takes the silent toddler to a motel. She discovers evidence that the child has been physically abused and molested. Sickened, Taylor resolves to take care of the child, naming her Turtle, and continues to drive west until a flat tire forces a stop in Tucson, Arizona. Because Taylor can’t afford to replace the tire, she decides to stay in Tucson and look for work.

Running out of money fast, Taylor moves in with Lou Ann Ruiz, a new mother whose husband, Angel, recently abandoned her and their son, Dwayne Ray. Like Taylor, Lou Ann is from Kentucky, and the two roommates bond over their similar childhood experiences. Taylor gets a job at a tire dealership, slowly overcoming a childhood fear of exploding tires stemming from witnessing a man thrown when he overfilled a tire and it exploded.

The owner of the tire shop, Mattie, reveals that she provides sanctuary to migrants from Central America who seek political asylum in the US. She introduces Taylor to Estevan and Esperanza, a young couple from Guatemala who were forced to enter the country without authorized documents. Taylor finds Estevan charming and intelligent, and she falls in love with him despite his being married. Meanwhile, Lou Ann continues to debate whether to reconcile with her husband, Angel. Taylor encourages her to seek independence from men and learn to be happy by herself first.

Eventually, Turtle begins to open up and interact with the world. She’s fascinated by vegetables and plants, starting to speak by pointing out beans in the garden. Taylor grows to love Turtle like a daughter and is encouraged by the child’s resiliency despite the terrible situation she endured early in her life. However, Taylor also begins to understand her own gaps in knowledge about the world, particularly as she learns more about the discrimination that Estevan and Esperanza face in the US. After Esperanza nearly dies by suicide, Estevan reveals that their daughter, Ismene, was taken as a hostage by the Guatemalan government and given to another family to raise.

One evening, a stranger in the park attempts to kidnap Turtle. This frightens Turtle back into a state of silence and deeply disturbs Taylor, who suddenly feels inept as a parent. Because she now knows more about how cruel and unfair the world is, she fears that she’ll be unable to protect Turtle adequately as she grows up. Becoming melancholy, Taylor considers letting a state social worker put Turtle into foster care. However, Lou Ann and Mattie encourage Taylor to find a way to legally adopt Turtle, convincing her that no mother can completely protect her child but that her willingness to try is enough.

Taylor volunteers to drive Estevan and Esperanza to a new safehouse in Oklahoma, despite risking arrest for helping undocumented immigrants. During this trip, she plans to seek Turtle’s legal guardians and convince them to sign custody of Turtle over to her. However, when they arrive in Oklahoma, Taylor can’t find anyone who knows who Turtle might be at the road stop where she was given the child. Estevan and Esperanza volunteer to go with her to the Cherokee reservation at the Lake O’ the Cherokees to continue searching. During the drive, Taylor notices that Turtle calls out “mama” when they pass a graveyard; she later buries a doll and claims that this is what happened to her mother. Realizing that Turtle’s mother is likely dead, Taylor resolves to gain custody of Turtle.

Estevan and Esperanza accompany Taylor to a social worker and notary public in Oklahoma City, posing as Cherokee parents and claiming that Turtle is their biological daughter, whom they can no longer care for. The ruse works, and they sign the paperwork so that Taylor can formally adopt Turtle. Esperanza gains closure from the act of symbolically giving up another child and saying goodbye to Turtle, which she never got to do with Ismene. Estevan and Esperanza then go to the sanctuary church, hoping that they can one day be reunited with their daughter when the political situation in Guatemala improves.

Taylor returns to Tucson with Turtle, now her legal daughter. She thinks about how plants often form mutually beneficial relationships with microorganisms in the soil and begins to see herself as a member of an interdependent community.