Mr. Gum may be the nastiest man on Earth, but he has the tidiest, greeniest, floweriest, gardeniest garden in the world…that is, until a giant whopper of a dog named Jake destroys it in a fit of doggy joy. In retaliation, Mr. Gum hatches one of his astonishingly evil plots, involving some poisonous meat, and soon—very soon—things will get uglier than Mr. Gum in his underwear.

Unless, of course, Polly—a golden-haired local girl with hair like cat’s daydream who is as good and true as Mr. Gum is wretched and smelly—can stymie Mr. Gum, save Jake, and prove to the world why the truth is lemon meringue...