A small town in the middle of the country has only two stores, no post office, a sheriff paid by the mile, no schools, a part time Public Works person, a gas station with one pump that closes at dusk, and a lunch counter where you eat off the kitchen table.
In all of this or the lack of it, a young lady called Sam wants to start a Daycare Center. In a town that has the sheriff's single squad car uses a 12-volt battery to power his flashing lights.
Mildred, the town gossip and local historian is trying to write and collect the history of the entire valley. She has support from the local sewing bee. Who are digging in everyone's attic.
Sam knows that there could be a new source of money from guided tours of a water powered flour mill that closed almost a 100 years ago. Long ago the property became a ward of the state for not paying their taxes. It appears everyone has forgotten the mill and it is nearly 20 miles out of town. There is a handy man in town called Hammer because he always has a hammer in his back pocket. He can keep a secret and might be able to get the mill safe enough for guided tours. The people that know she wants to open a Daycare has told her there is not enough money in the entire city to fund it.
The questions are many. Is the mill safe enough for a tour? Can she pry it away from the state at little or no cost? Will someone else beat her to the mill or maybe they want only the land it sits on? How can she use the people trying to do the history of the valley to cover up what she wants?
Is their working the history with Mildred going to bring the flour mill front and center. How can she slow them down until she knows what to do?
Will Hammer become a co-conspirator with Sam in the Daycare Center and a mill they have yet to visit.