Edward Heron died gasping for breath, yellow-jackets swarming around him. Had his asthma finally killed him...or something more sinister?

Heron's death affects many people in his small New England community: spinster sisters, a real estate developer with an eye on Edward's property and a long time neighbor, Buddy Whipple.

Enter Homer Kelly, another neighbor, also a Thoreau scholar and an ex-detective. With the help of his nephew, an amateur naturalist, he goes to work on the case.