Still without Buz, Tod has set himself up in the small town of Hernando, Mississippi, where time has seemingly stood still. He has a job working as the right hand man for famed prize winning author, Warren Barr. Tod loves everything about this time in Hernando, especially absorbing whatever he can off of Warren's energy. Tod's idyllic stay in Hernando is shattered when Warren's daughter, Beth Chance, is charged with murdering her husband, Larry Chance, after catching him cheating on her with an old flame, Cora Parkes. Beth, now behind bars while she waits for the trial, is refusing to speak, all she mentioning to her father in private being that she awaits a guilty verdict and death. Meanwhile, Cora has gone into hiding to avoid being questioned. Beyond supporting Warren in the matter, Tod does some sleuthing on his own, which is made all the more difficult with the throng of out of town reporters covering the trial, those reporters including Dixie Martin, an advice to the lovelorn columnist who is looking at the story from the wife done wrong angle, and Leslie Stone, who has preferred to stay away from the center of the action to observe from a distance which may give him greater insight.
—Huggo