The widow Twyla Bumblebird does good works. She's on the Modern Art Museum Committee for the Old Masters Wing, the Garden Club's Downtown Beautification Committee, and the Opera Committee. The mayor and business owners recognize the importance of the widow's generous efforts on behalf of Plumbagoville, and have been willing to overlook her eccentricities, such as her personal campaign to end public displays of affection. No one has yet been seriously wounded from her pocketbook broadsides, but she's getting worse, and the mayor and business owners have begun to worry that she is driving customers away to other towns. Naturally, they are reluctant to throw the wealthy widow in jail, and so turn to Dr. Ingall Kuchenmitnussen for help. However, the formidable Twyla Bumblebird may be more than even Ingall Kuchenmitnussen can handle.