The residents of Palm Valley/Ponte Vedra discover that the city of Jacksonville is planning to locate a landfill just west of them across the Intracoastal Waterway. The thought of the odor, wafting over them from the west in the heat of the summer, has sent the entire community into shock and action. Dr. Paul, as the president of the Palm Valley community center and the incoming Chairman of the St. Johns County Civic Roundtable, is a major figure in the fight to take on the City of Jacksonville. She acts to stir up the whole County against the landfill. A young visiting environmentalist and biologist agreed to help the people look for possible endangered species on the site, where he is found murdered. He is connected to Paul's mysterious friends Steel and Stone, who fly in to help in the investigation. The suspects range from the trash haulers, to the Jacksonville city officials, to even the local people fighting the landfill. The action is fast and the ending surprising.