Malcolm Finley has been invited by Douglas Raynor to visit his beautiful country estate, the aptly-named Flower Acres. Also staying at the house are Raynor's wife Nancy, Nancy's brother Orville, Raynor's spinster sister Mattie and a dietitian named Eva Turner. But why has Nancy married this older man who so obviously mistreats her? And why has the habitually jealous Raynor invited Finley to stay, knowing full well that Nancy and he were once lovers? Soon, however, these questions are superseded by an altogether more pressing one - namely, who fired the single shot that ended Douglas Raynor's life? With seemingly every member of the household lying in order to protect one another, the local police are unable to get very far in their investigation and it is left to celebrated detective Pennington Wise to clear up the mystery of Raynor's death.