Elizabeth Zott is a chemist in the 1960s. The problem is, she is the only one who views herself that way. Her male colleagues cannot get past the fact that she's a woman, and treat her more as a secretary and doormat, acknowledging her only long enough to steal her work. That is, until Calvin Evans, another brilliant chemist, comes along and really sees all that she is capable of. Calvin grew up in an orphanage but it is not until his daughter who has a project at school about family investigates Calvins past that the reader finds out more about this aspect of the novel.