Mary Barton used to teach at a girls' public school in England In her fifties, eccentric and difficult, she is arrested for murder when the bodies of three young children are found buried in her Calusa, Florida garden Lawyer Matthew Hope receives a call from one of her former pupils and when he sees Mary's amazing and beautiful garden he is encouraged to take on her case It is not going to be an easy one eyewitnesses have seen her with each one of the victims Matthew, despite the distraction of falling in love with the prosecuting attorney, is determined to uncover the truth