A recently widowed horticulturist, Joan Louen, decides to return to the peaceful, small town, where she married, in order to raise her son. Determined to start over and give her son a decent home, she restores a run-down antebellum house and the surrounding acreage, turning it into a thriving garden center. But when she attempts to install a community garden near the local library, she soon discovers that digging about the garden can reveal more than dirt.

When a beekeeper loses all his bees, a local garden shop owner vows to find an answer. But will she be able to save the bees, or is it to late? Will a lone kayaker discover clues in his research on the bayou that lead to a solution? Can the mayor protect other beekeepers from the same fate? Or, will they uncover more mysteries along the murky waters of the Moctobi Bayou?