Kate Stone has just left a toxic marriage behind her and bought a fixer-upper in Merryfield, a small town in Vermont, where she is immediately labeled a "rich divorcee out to steal husbands and wreck marriages." She meets two handsome brothers, Ben and Rory Fremantle, and incurs the bitter jealousy of Tiffany Thompson, Ben's girlfriend. She has a dinner date with Rory, and it looks like romance is blooming for them. But then, after a massive spring storm, Rory is found dead on the bank of Wandering Brook.

When an autopsy reveals that Rory was murdered, the small-town gossip machine labels Kate a murderer. But Kate not only proves her innocence, she helps the Chief of Merryfield's overwhelmed police force to solve the mystery and find the killer.