Pip Carey just wants a peaceful holiday in Vavàu, but her chosen hotel is filled with noisy New Zealanders wheeling and dealing with the local Tongans over squash exports. Despite her wish for solitude, Pip is drawn into detailed conversations with Brian Urquart, his rival Ian Burke and his wife Raewen, and local tour boat operator Carroll Spicer. Even a quiet catch-up with Pip's friend Selina 'Akau at the store where Selina sells her own pendants and other sea jewellery and handicrafts becomes the scene for noisy gossip about the Fifita family's business dealings and social lives.
Detective Chief Inspector Kulī Fīnau is in Vavàu to escort a visiting customs officer who is helping train the Tongan officers. Kulī, ever the bloodhound, intended to sniff around the local drug scene while there, but when one of the New Zealanders is found dead, Kulī must begin a new investigation - into murder.
When Kulī finds out that a dishevelled Selina stumbled into Pip's hotel room in the early hours of the night of the murder, Pip finds herself at the centre of the investigation - with Selina squarely in the frame. Kulī seems as determined to prove Selina is the killer as Pip is to prove her innocence. Can Kulī solve the case before Pip's enquiries put both her and Selina in danger from the real killer?