A Civil War Reenactment is going on in Elmwood Gardens in Portage Falls. After a reenactment battle in the gardens, Catherine Jewell, botanist at Elmwood and owner of Roses in Thyme, spies a body in a field of goldenrod beyond the battlefield. She wonders if she'll ever stop finding bodies. Police chief John MacDougal has trouble solving who killed the victim because there were so many people who hated him. Meanwhile, John's mother tells Catherine about a murdered body she'd found while backpacking a few months ago with the environmentalist who stayed at her B&B. Interesting new characters and returning characters from previous books will please the reader as well as a surprise ending.