Maggie, owner of the Pineridge Inn Bed and Breakfast, and Ruth, director of the Pineridge Library get an unexpected but very welcome visitor. Hazel Nivens was once a Pineridge native but left in her teens and is now visiting her hometown again, fifty years later. But tragedy strikes the bed-and-breakfast, and Hazel is found dead in her bed of natural causes.

Six months later, Hazel's last requests appear in the form of a large bequest to the bed-and-breakfast and the library. Maggie and Ruth suddenly have money to fix up their respective businesses. The two women are determined to find out who exactly Hazel was and why she left two near strangers half a million dollars. But when Ruth's husband is in a car accident, Hazel and her money are quickly forgotten as new priorities of family and love take their place.