Maggie Eliot Raynham is afraid that she has bitten off more than she can chew. She has agreed to review and update a card catalogue of garden plants. One hundred and thirty years of garden plants. The project was mischievously proposed by her husband, Thomas, and the records pertain to the gardens of Beaumatin, his estate in the Cotswolds. Maggie has hardly started her task when billionaire hi-tech venture capitalist Stanley Einhorn literally crashes into her life. Two days later a second accident results in Stanley's becoming an uninvited houseguest, along with his posse-Axe Man, May Lin and Dobby. Then one of his entourage is killed and, shortly afterwards, a second death occurs. It looks like someone is trying to murder the troublesome billionaire and is either extremely incompetent or cold-heartedly callous.

With two down and two to go, and the police baffled, all Maggie wants to do is solve the crimes so she can get back to her own Heraclean labour.