Angie Deacon always thought the gene that produced maternal instinct was missing from her DNA. Till she meets Kiana Smith: beautiful, personable, talented and…grieving, because her mentor, Gwen Forest, the drama teacher has been murdered.

The principal of Carlson South High School begs Angie to come supervise a production scheduled for that weekend. The play, written by Kiana and her friend Evan, is being put on to raise money to save the floundering drama program at the school. Although her own community theater is in the midst of its next production, Angie agrees to help out.

The trouble is, the principal has told everyone she’s there to work on the case, and Angie is quickly buried in secrets and problems thrown at her from every angle. Since she and Detective Colby Jarvis’ near-death experience in a recent case, she’s sworn to leave investigating to the professionals. Unfortunately she can’t convince the kids or the principal to stop bringing her clues.