After buying a struggling veterinary practice in Winter Beach, Florida, Spencer Hawley and his Boston terrier, Gidget, are reduced to seducing and abducting neighborhood dogs by night to rustle up clients. They then return them safely to their frantic owners in the morning in exchange for their gratitude and patronage. It’s not exactly the best way to do business, but Spencer is desperate. In the course of his breach of ethics, Spencer encounters Walker Braddock III, an unscrupulous mortician, and the sexually-conflicted Lucinda Vickers, Walker’s former high school partner in crime. While finding herself attracted to both Spencer and his assistant Missy, Lucinda is even more enticed by the fortune she and Walker can realize if they are able to wrest the orange groves of citrus grower Eldridge Stoval out from under the Miami developers. To Spencer’s surprise, he and Eldridge are linked by more than their interest in Boston terriers, but their bond is severed during Hurricane Buzz, when Eldridge is murdered—and Spencer is the number one suspect. With the investigation closing in, Spencer and Missy must find Eldridge’s slayer to clear his name.