It is a rare occasion when Annie Dawson receives a visitor from her old hometown of Brookfield, Texas, and she is decidedly puzzled when Seneca Marchal shows up unannounced on Main Street of Stony Point, Maine. Seneca is traveling alone, her husband and grown children still back in Texas. It was Seneca, a hard-hitting journalist, who provided the strongest shoulder for Annie following the death of her beloved husband, Wayne. Seneca helped Annie pull out of the shroud of grief and move on to the next phase of her life -- a move that ultimately led her to Stony Point, the town where she enjoyed summers with her grandparents, Charles and Elizabeth Holden. Seneca says she's just looking for a few days of relaxation, but Annie senses something deeper and more troubling in her friend's eyes. Seneca refuses to stay at Grey Gables, the home she inherited when her grandmother died. Is Seneca trying to protect her from something or someone? Annie fears that another mystery is unfolding before her eyes -- a sinister and deadly mystery trying to envelop both Seneca and herself. Annie must pursue this latest mystery without the help of her favorite amateur sleuth, Alice MacFarlane. Alice has been called away to Florida because of her mother's failing health. Still, the members of the Hook and Needle Club circle the wagons to help Seneca, Annie, and Alice through their crises.