A brace of basset hounds brings joy and chaos to a writer's life. Widowed Beanie MacBean fosters homeless basset hounds from South Lake Tahoe's Lakeside Animal Shelter. Unfortunately, the shelter is managed by Rhoda Marx, a woman who'd rather euthanize the hapless strays as quickly as possible than try to find them homes. When Beanie goes to pick up her foster Calamity to join her own basset, Cruiser, she discovers Rhoda's dead body in the euthanasia chamber.