Loring Air Force Base is in the remote, sparsely populated north woods of Aroostook County, Maine. During the 1950's, Jeanne Durand, a young Army wife living in a close-knit armed services neighborhood, turns amateur sleuth when her downstairs Canasta partner, Birdie Brun, is murdered. Jeanne suspects Birdie's abusive husband, Bill, who shot a hole through the floor of the Durand's living room upstairs. Jeanne finds no dearth of suspects. She sees Army MP Trey Fontenot lurking around her apartment. She discovers that Trey left voodoo conjuring agents in Birdie's apartment. Alan Greenbeck, a Mormon who lives with his family across the street, tries to convince Jeanne, a little too forcefully, that polygamy is a good thing. Perhaps he wants the beautiful Birdie for a wife. Jeanne identifies the murderer, but not before her life is endangered.