Editing Ulee's Gold (section)

==Plot==
Ulee Jackson is a widowed beekeeper in [[Wewahitchka, Florida]]. His son Jimmy is in prison following a botched bank robbery and Jimmy's wife, Helen, has abandoned their two daughters and is living in [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]]. Ulee's stubborn independence prevents him from asking for help, and he has his hands full running his business and acting as surrogate parent to Casey and Penny. Casey is a rebellious teenager and Penny is a timid 10-year-old who seems confused by her parents' absence and the tension at home.

When Ulee visits Jimmy in prison, Jimmy tells him that Helen has turned up at the Orlando home of petty criminals Eddie Flowers and Ferris Dooley. They were Jimmy's accomplices in the robbery, but were never caught. Now they say Helen is sick, and Jimmy asks Ulee to bring her home.

Ulee goes to pick up Helen, but it turns out what Eddie and Ferris really want is the stolen money that Jimmy allegedly hid after the robbery. Ulee agrees to ask Jimmy about it, and then takes Helen home. Helen's "illness" is actually drug addiction and, while she is almost comatose on the way home, she becomes violent and belligerent as she wakes up near the house. Ulee's tenant and next door neighbor, a divorced nurse named Connie, is brought into the home by a frightened Penny, and over the next few days helps Helen through her drug withdrawal.

Meanwhile, Ulee learns that Jimmy hid the bank money in an ice chest under a wrecked pick-up truck left to rust in the swamp. He tells Eddie and Ferris he will bring the money to Orlando in a few days, but they decide they cannot wait and take Helen, Casey, and Penny hostage in Ulee's home. They are then tied up and left in the house as Eddie and Ferris force Ulee at gunpoint to take them to the money. As they are leaving Ulee's house, with Ulee driving, Ulee, uncharacteristically, makes the tires squeal. The unusual sound is enough to get the attention of Connie, who walks over to the house, finds the bound women and releases them. Most likely, she also calls the sheriff to alert him to Eddie and Ferris' actions. After the money has been retrieved, Ulee has an opportunity to kick the pistol into the swamp. The two criminals ride with Ulee back into town, then Eddie, angry about the lost gun, stabs him in the parking lot when they arrive. As Ulee stumbles away bleeding, Eddie and Ferris drive off but are pulled over almost immediately by the sheriff.

In a newly hopeful Jackson household, Helen has stepped back into her role as a mother, and Jimmy expects to be paroled soon. Ulee is happy to return to his bees, but has mixed feelings about giving up some of his responsibilities, as Jimmy has asked to work with Ulee.  As he recovers from his wound he begins work on expanding his business to accommodate Jimmy's return, and seems to finally be taking a romantic interest in Connie.