Summer vacation has finally started, and Bird is looking forward to an extended stay with her Aunt Hannah at Saddle Creek Farm. But before she can settle into a normal routine of riding Sunny and preparing for shows, the community is thrown into chaos. A neighbourhood woman is brutally attacked on a local side road, and when the police don't act fast enough to satisfy the demand for justice, the situation goes from bad to worse - with neighbour accusing neighbour, and a bent-on-revenge vigilante group springing up to take matters into their own hands. Although she starts by observing the fuss from the sidelines, Bird quickly finds herself embroiled in the mystery. Who had reason to attack Sandra Hall? Does the strange man Bird and Sunny met in the woods have something to do with the crime? And how does her grandfather's reappearance fit into the picture? As Bird struggles to get to the bottom of the mystery, she learns more than she bargained for about her community, her past, and human nature.