A getaway weekend to a bayou bed-n-breakfast seems the perfect spot for New Orleans former playboy Ethan Galen to get acquainted with a nice girl for a change and take care of a little business too. But when a fellow guest vanishes into the swamp, his plan to resurrect his reputation and family fortune hits a snag. The object of his affection turns out to be Cora Dearing, a would-be reporter for the newspaper responsible for his family's disgrace. Cora sees the disappearance as her opportunity to advance to investigative work. But enlisting the help of the mysterious Galen to help solve the crime exposes his hidden agenda. As bodies rise to the surface, and no one is whom they appear to be, their romance simmers and thickens like a true Cajun gumbo.