When a real estate developer, known for using substandard building equipment, is found dead at a site outside of Cabot Cove where he was planning on building a high-rise hotel, there is no shortage of suspects who wanted to see the man dead. Jessica soon has her work cut out for her in trying to convince an FBI Agent that a peaceful environmental protestor is innocent in the crime while proving to Sheriff Tupper that another set of skeletal remains that have been found at the construction scene don't belong to a Revolutionary War hero.

Crime writer Jessica Fletcher is about to receive a special award at Grenshaw College when she finds the proceedings interrupted by a murder.