During the awards ceremony at the Puget Sound Dressage Society's annual banquet dressage judge Sig Paalmann collapses and dies. The wealthy man leaves his bride of two months — Thea's estranged friend, Andrea — and enigmatic last words.

Thea's initial plan to reestablish her friendship with Andrea, despite the arrogant man she married, grows into resolve to support her through the crisis. But Andrea needs more than support when her husband's death is deemed murder and she is arrested.

With boyfriend Paul Hudson's help, Thea's digs in to investigate only to discover complications far worse than either had anticipated. Andrea is pregnant and in fragile health, warring business partners jockey for control, slighted family members turn ruthless, and Thea and Paul become pawns in a desperate struggle for money and power. But, the situation, already critical, takes an even more personal twist with the arrival of an old nemesis — a man capable of orchestrating not only Sig's death but the grave danger stalking Andrea, Thea and Paul.