As the Civil War begins in 1861, Glynis Tryon, Seneca Falls, New York, librarian and amateur sleuth, meets a woman seeking her lost daughter. Meanwhile, Glynis' cousin Emma fears losing her independence in marriage, and a rich Seneca Falls merchant is brutally murdered. When the lost girl becomes the prime suspect in the merchant's murder, Glynis joins forces with her niece, treasury agent Bronwen Llyr, and Constable Cullen Stuart to find the real killer.