When Nola Delaney retreated to an old fishing cabin on Caddo Lake after a robbery, she sought nothing but solitude and healing. As she adapts to life on the mysterious, beautiful lake, Jean Batiste Loutrel shows up with a stringer full of fish and a neighbor's welcome. Nola needs a friend and Jean Batiste, Johnny to his friends, offers the richness of their shared Cajun heritage.

Their friendship soon evolves into something more but Johnny has a secret—cursed by a voo doo woman, he can shift into a alligator. Love may not be enough for a happily ever after unless they can figure out a way around the curse so Johnny can be all man once more.