Alissa Sterling is driving fourteen hours to San Antonio for a dual-purpose visit. Her parents live there, and her boyfriend Matthew is currently working on a novel in the same city. It's time for the most important people in her life to meet.
While she's in town, her cousin Stella enlists her private investigation services to discover who's been stealing her product from work. The case causes frustration for Alissa, who is trying to spend as much time with her parents and Matthew as possible while figuring out who the thief is. It doesn't help that Stella is only paying her in nutritional tea.
Alissa arrives home to find that her coworker Leslie's poodle, Sheena, has gone missing. She and Leslie focus all their efforts on finding her. Their investigation uncovers something tragic that has affected many people for years, something that may never have come to light without this incident.
As always, Alissa's service dog and canine P.I. partner, Sydney, is on the case with them. Their discovery leads to a new friend for Syd, one so likeable that he doesn't even mind sharing his space with her. Alissa knows the arrangement may not be permanent, since the new friend is part of the criminal investigation, but like Syd, Alissa can't help but love her.
As her caseload slows down, Alissa takes on more interior decorating jobs. P.I. gigs will always come first, but her design talent is steadily opening doors to fulfilling work with nice paychecks.
Big changes are coming for their family.