It's not as if Nel Innes doesn't have enough on her plate already: keeping track of her unnervingly beautiful teenage daughter, sorting out a house full of animals, and organizing a farmers' market in the picturesque Paradise Fields. The last thing she needs is yet another complication in her life, but when her old friend Sir Gerald dies, and his son, Pierce, accompanied by his glamorous American wife, takes possession of the property, it seems that preserving the Fields is not on his list of priorities.

Nel takes up arms, determined to fight for the meadow and the market she loves. But who can she trust? She's pretty sure her friends Sacha and Vivian are on her side, but her sensible boyfriend of six months, Simon, an estate agent, is less encouraging. And then there's Jake, the infuriating yet attractive stranger who surprised her with a kiss under the mistletoe at the last market before Christmas. Maybe she's been a celibate widow for a little too long....