For forty-four years Stella Templeton has been a dutiful daughter and a good citizen living in Maidenville, population 2800, a town where nothing happens. Until one hot summer afternoon... An ugly act has lifted the respectable skirts of Maidenville and mystery starts to surround the daughter of the local minister. Then the disappearance of a sixteen-year-old-boy adds to the neighbourhood's confusion. Does something sinister lurk behind the neatly trimmed hedges and white picket fences that divide this sleepy town? No one comes close to knowing the horrifying truth - but after forty-four years of self denial and duty, Stella Templeton is finally beginning to blossom.