"When a doctor is willing to make house calls, patients show their appreciation. Sometimes posthumously. Dr. Fenimore can't wait to see his acres, acres that may hide a pirate treasure. With his young assistant, Horatio ("Rat"), he's off to South Jersey to view what turns out to be fifty acres of mud with weeds. Not daunted, the doctor visits another patient in the area, the very much alive Lydia Ashley, whose farm is nearby. They find her heading a preliminary run-through of a charity house tour she is planning." "The doctor and Horatio enter with dismaying news, however: someone has hung a rotting cow carcass outside the barn, its head replaced by a photocopied photograph of Lydia herself, and the word SELL! scrawled in red paint - or blood - on the back." "After the visitors have left, Fenimore learns from Lydia that the cow was just the latest nasty and somehow threatening trick played on her since she flatly turned down an offer for her farm. What is even more frightening is that the "pranksters" seem to know things about her life and habits that could only be because they were told. But who, among the friends and neighbors, could be feeding them information? The doctor postpones his hunt for pirate treasure and jumps into what he likes to do best - detective work. Who is trying to buy Lydia's farm, and why are they offering too much money for it?" Fenimore installs his longtime secretary, Mrs. Doyle, in the farmhouse to spy on the assorted neighbors and protect Lydia and Susan. Meanwhile, the doctor makes what is, for him, a supreme sacrifice. He joins Philadelphia society and his life becomes a whirl of dinners and cocktail parties. This upsets his significant other, Jennifer, and mystifies Mrs. Doyle. But of course the doctor has his reasons, and with considerable help from his friends, he is able to unravel the whole tangled business, and get down to treasure-hunting.