A bullet barely misses Manhattan society writer Louisa Delafield, and her publisher insists she leave the city for what seems like an easy assignment in Florida until a wedding guest winds up dead with a stolen diamond in his hand. Louisa investigates the mysterious death, but finds the answers hard to come by when a mesmerizing French man distracts her from her duties. In New York, Louisa's assistant, Ellen Malloy, infiltrates an anarchists' enclave to discover who shot at Louisa and risks losing the woman of her dreams in her pursuit. Louisa and Ellen travel parallel paths as they confront dynamite-wielding anarchists, hungry alligators, and a raging fire, but the toughest obstacles they face are their own wayward hearts.