If there's one thing author Olivia Novak loves more than books it's family dirt. The success of her deceased mother's best-selling novel, Indigo to Black, begs for further investigation to find out if the so-called fictional murder is true. But she has one complication: the new love of Olivia's life, 62-year-old attorney Woody Rainey, is connected to the story through his mother, too. Woody's mother sued Olivia and her two sisters, Lauren and Danny, over Indigo to Black. Cracking open the family "dirtball" is key to her and Woody's future. And dead mothers tell no tales.

Digging into the truth begins under the hot lights of a book auction in New York. A collection of Woody's inherited books is about to be sold. Letting go of first editions is nearly as tough for Olivia as removing her old wedding ring. In a desperate move before the hammer drops, Olivia makes a shocking decision that could blow apart her and Woody's relationship.

This calamity requires a clean-up call to Olivia's street team in Portland, Oregon: her two sisters, Lauren and Danny, a Portland cop, and a pair of wise-guy therapy dogs, Pogo and Beauregard. But a monster snowstorm arrives with them. Protecting Mom's reputation takes more than an unbreakable sibling bond and a vow of lifelong love—it requires a risk of life and limb and a four-wheel drive to have a sit-down with elderly mobsters in a Pennsylvania prison.