Corinne Collier, a native of the Alabama Gulf Coast, drives to San Francisco at the request of her best friend since childhood, Allison Hurst, whose great-aunt by marriage, Eugenia, has suffered a stroke six months earlier and needs a companion. Finding one has not been easy; nine have come and gone in the past four months. Eugenia is demanding, abrasive, and socially pretentious. Corinne, still mourning the loss of her beloved dog, Sam, accepts the job, at least temporarily. Going to San Francisco will also allow Corinne to reacquaint herself with her godson, Ethan, and to escape any attempt at revenge her abusive ex-fiance, Michael, might make. In San Francisco, Corinne befriends her neighbors, accepts a part-time job at a local restaurant, and begins a romance with the owner. She also helps to locate and capture a Black Liberation Army fugitive, discovers that she is distantly related to the Hursts, and adopts a Border Collie mix that she names Ansel. Ansel proves to be a valuable ally when Michael finds Corinne and seeks revenge. The next book in the series chronicles Corinne's further adventures.