When Leslie Elliott quits her public relations job up north and moves with her contrarian mother to a small Florida island to write mysteries, it doesn't take her long to realize the truth of the comment by her new friend, Deb Rankin: "No one around here minds their own business unless they're up to no good. And there's plenty of no good in this place."
Hungry buzzards lead Leslie to an abandoned house where she discovers the carcass of a headless dog whose owner seems to be missing. Sightings of a human body on the beach fuel Leslie's obsessive curiosity. Her search for answers puts her at odds with the local sheriff and places her new island friends in jeopardy.
As she explores the dark side of paradise, Leslie is confronted with the struggles by locals to survive in a millionaire's part-time playground, her bewildering yes-and-no feelings for a quiet fisherman with too many secrets and dangerous men who will stop at nothing to protect their lucrative criminal activities.