Eleemosynary examines the delicate relationship between three generations of brilliant women: Dorothea, who chose to embrace a strong will and eccentric behavior after having her own creativity stifled over a lifetime; Artie, who fled her mother’s overpowering personality, leaving her daughter behind; and Echo, who adores Dorothea, but desperately craves her mother. Echo’s talent for spelling becomes the one thing that connects Echo and Artie, and Echo is determined to use the national spelling bee to bring her mother home.