When Catherine Greene moves back to her tiny home town, she never expects to meet a man like Derrick Walker. Then again, she doesn't plan on opening her patisserie next to a dive bar, either. No matter Cat's plans, there are fireworks when she happens to meet Derrick one morning after his bar closes and she gets to work early. In their previous lives, she was an ER nurse in the city, and he was in the Marines. They flirt and share a memorable kiss, but not before they hear gunshots in the distance. What happened in the middle of the night occupies Cat's thoughts all day at work, until a local cop tells her that Alan Strauss has been murdered. And whoever killed Alan used Derrick Walker's gun. But there's no way Derrick could have done it, because she was with him. Right? As she falls for Derrick, and the small town rumor mill grinds them down, Cat hopes upon hope that she's not falling for a bad man. She doesn't want to be yet another woman who makes excuses for a man's poor behavior. When Derrick is arrested, Cat takes it upon herself to do what the police and prosecutors haven't done — find the real killer.