When Stella Stevenson and her husband, a renowned attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, escape their strenuous, competitive lifestyle for the quiet, peace of a barrier island near Charleston, South Carolina, their expectations for peace, tranquility, reclaimed sanity and romance are replaced with doubt and disbelief by her gruesome discovery on the beach. Autumn had always been the time of year for Stella and Walker Stevenson to begin anew. After a move to Fripp Island in late September they are engulfed in their newfound paradise. After the discovery, Stella strives to maintain her southern charm and relish in the beauty of Fripp Island, but attempts to return to normalcy fail. Stella is unaware that she has stumbled into a deadly east coast drug smuggling syndicate and is on the verge of exposing their operations. Criminals believed to be locals lurk about the island and threaten her inner family circle. Stella can no longer turn a blind-eye to the feeling that she is now being hunted nor can she ignore the mysterious events that happen one after another. Kenan Gray, heir to a multi-million-dollar fortune in Virginia, appears from nowhere and becomes romantically entangled with Stella's daughter, Kate. Skepticism rises as Stella finds evidence that could connect him to a loathsome island woman. Walker is adamant that paranoia has taken his wife captive and dismisses her suspicions. If she continues her attempts to sort through the strange events that continue to happen her marriage is at stake; if she doesn't their lives will be. In The Red Leaves of Autumn the changing of seasons brings the promise of new beginnings for some and mystery and mayhem for others as a unique cast of characters struggles to unravel the mysteries of this vibrant Southern locale.