When Phryne's Aunt Prudence opens her home to psychiatrist and natural healer, Hayden Samuels, to conduct his sanatorium for 'hysterical' women, Phryne takes on more than she bargained for.

When Phryne hosts a tennis tournament to raise money for female tennis players, the practice partner of a rising star is fatally bitten by a spider, and a murder investigation reveals Phryne's hidden fear.