Poor widowed Marge Ippolito, mother of 14-year old Dory, friend of Cricket Johnson, and proprietor of Huntington Pianos, needs another husband, or so her friends think. Cricket, now an honest-to-goodness detective, scouts around for likely candidates. Baby Barriga, of Baby's Bar and Grill, has her brother Karl in mind and plots to bring them together. Mrs. Dorkley from next door encourages nice Mr. Gaunt the teacher who is already smitten but has his own secret reason for holding back.

Marge's assistant in the piano store, Gunner, a retired chemist and excellent piano player, is secretly in love with her. He is handsome and suitable, but horrors! a floozy of a wife turns up and pledges Marge to secrecy about her arrival in town. This shock squelches Marge's growing interest in Gunner. Why didn't he tell her he was married? Poor Gunner does not know why Marge is suddenly all icy toward him and thinks maybe it's time to quit. Wait! We scream. Don't give up, Gunner!

The so-called wife Janet is a slimy schemer. Will the truth eventually come to light? There is a confusing scene when one of the stray characters visiting Marge and Dory, a teenage girl, overdoses on drugs. In the chaos two other people staying at the house, Marta the young Albanian woman and her four-year-old son Tito, are spooked by the police presence and leave in a big hurry.

There is a mystery: who left the revolver in Mrs. Dorkley's kitchen cupboard? As the school year begins Dory's heart is broken once again and by the same person, blond Rachel. Mrs. Dorkley provides emotional support when he needs it and together they bury the beloved stray dog that has been dashing in and out for months. Who is the true hero of the tale? A sequel to Cricket and Friends.