As clouds gather over the Great Smoky Mountains, an absent groom, a stolen historical document, and a book club coming apart at the seams stir up a different sort of storm in this engaging mystery. How far will one book lover go to keep a secret? As the townsfolk of Miracle Springs, North Carolina, know all too well, water can be healing--or devastating. With a big storm coming, residents are stocking up on essentials. Hoping to beat the storm, Nora is sitting in the Unitarian Church with her fellow wedding guests, all of whom belong to Sheldon's Blind Date Book Club. As rain hammers the stained-glass windows, the bride, Jess, waits in the back of the church--but where is the groom? When a branch crashes through a stained-glass window, Jess finally tells the guests to go home. With the help of her friend Sheldon, Nora escorts Jess to the Lodge. It's now become clear that Jess's fiancé Ravi is missing. But there's no searching for him now, as the Miracle River has flooded and they're stuck on this side of town.

By morning, they awaken to widespread devastation and a call from Sheriff McCabe. A body has been pulled out of the river, dressed in a tux. On top of this tragic turn of events, Jess returns home to find her house has been spared from the raging water, but ransacked, with an extremely valuable folio from an illuminated manuscript now missing. As Miracle Books becomes the community hub for information, shelter, and hope, Nora and the Secret, Book, and Scone Society put their heads together to solve the murder and the theft. But then a second body is pulled from the river .