We last saw his work in the very good Ruby in Paradise. His gold is the delicate honey produced by the bees that gather nectar from the Tupelo gum tree. In the North Florida swamps where Ulee tends his hives, he has only a few weeks in April and May, during the gum tree's bloom, to harvest Tupelo honey. We realize that he's doing so to show all that beekeeping means to Ulee. Bees are predictable.
Bees provide order.
Humans do not. Because his grandchildren's father is in prison for armed robbery and their mother has deserted them, Ulee is raising his two granddaughters, a pre-adolescent and a sullen midteen who seems determined to stay in as much trouble as her mother. He's doing it alone. Ulee's wife died not long ago in an accident. If Ulee had his way, he would walk away from Helen.