What could be more picturesque and peaceful than an apple orchard in Vermont in the fall? Ripe, juicy red apples hanging on the trees waiting to be picked, pickers ready to go to work with their baskets, and busloads of school children ready for their tour. These were the scenes that Stan and Moira Earthrowl were picturing when they bought the orchard to help them heal after the devastating loss of their teenage daughter.

The orchard, however, offers little comfort to the grieving parents. Stan not only has to contend with a bossman who sees himself as the owner of the orchard, but with a series of progressively more serious mishaps that are plaguing the trees. On top of these problems, Stan also fights a local cult who wants to dismiss a high school teacher and a developer who wants to buy the orchard. Frazzled by her husband's behavior and all of the "accidents," Moira finds support from Ruth Willmarth, whose daughter Emily is working at the orchard. The women slowly develop a friendship over coffee and try to figure out who could be bent on destroying the orchard. The vandal's next effort becomes a fatal one, and even Ruth's cows are threatened.

A Vermonter, Nancy Means Wright creates such a vivid setting that readers will want to drop by and pick some apples, assuming of course, that they have not been poisoned.