Pearl is missing Charlie. Mike is missing Pearl, but a death at a wedding brings them together as Pearl is a witness to family rivalry, angry ex-girlfriends and lies.
Mysterious happenings at Dolly's (shower left running, smoke alarms going off, money missing) has Pearl worried about her mother's state of mind. Meanwhile a burglary has Mike determined not to involve Pearl at any cost.
When 1970s movie icon Zelda St John changes her will, leaving her fortune to her housekeeper, Natalia, the young woman seeks out Pearl, fearing that Zelda's family might hurt her. Not long afterward, Zelda is found unconscious at her home, attacked with a croquet mallet, and Natalia disappears. Clashing over who they believe is responsible, Mike and Pearl lead separate investigations.
With her son grown up, single mom Pearl Nolan decides to pursue her lifelong dream and launches a private detective agency, which she runs from her family's restaurant in the coastal town of Whitstable. Drawn by her caring nature, locals soon flock to her with all manner of cases. But when an old friend dies suspiciously, Pearl finds herself in conflict with gruff new cop in town, DCI Mike McGuire.