When her attorney husband disappears soon after their move to Los Angeles only to resurface in the emergency room in a sky-high manic state, Clare Stone must confront the cold reality that the man she married 15 years ago has become a stranger. Slowly, she pieces together the signs of Richard's bipolar disorder she has ignored over the years: his frequent agitation and irritability, his equally frequent bouts of excessive exuberance and bursts of egocentric passion. But with her safe, predictable world irreversibly shaken, Clare finds it increasingly difficult to resist the flirtations of the attractive gardener she and Richard hired to spruce up their yard. From the buzz of L.A. to a deadly confrontation, Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate follows the Stone family through the heights and depths of manic-depressive illness as they sort out what is real and what is an illusion.