But Hester had not bargained on getting an English black marketeer and gunrunner for a lodger. The trouble is that Benjamin Blake, though one of the enemy, is so irresistibly attractive ... The war comes to an end, but Hester's troubles are far from over. Her brother George had died deep in debt, Aunt Kizzy is now bankrupt, and Carter Lois, the local storekeeper, is still pursuing Hester. Thankfully, she accepts Benjamin's proposal of marriage as a way out of both difficulties, and they retire to her North Georgia plantation house.
Happiness is short-lived -- Carter brings Aunt Kizzy home, and warns Hester that her handsome husband has already killed two wives ... Can it be true? And if it isn't, who else could be behind the accidents which have suddenly begun to befall Hester?
