Alene Baron is 38 years old and over seven years divorced from her philandering husband. She lives in a Chicago lakefront high-rise with her three children and her 72-year-old father. She owns the nearby Whipped and Sipped Café, which serves decadent but healthful pastries and drinks. Alene’s pastry chef and best friend is Ruthie, the college roommate with whom she once developed code words to study for history exams. Alene is also an avid reader of mysteries. When a neighbor is found dead she begins to compile a list of suspects. A week later, another neighbor is found battered, and one of Alene’s young employees is holding the gun. A few days later, the murderer confronts Alene.