Chapter 1 is set in 2007 and follows the perspective of Abigail Caldwell, a city clerk in Lambert, South Carolina who is trying to solve a mystery that promises a large inheritance. Though the chapter ends without Abigail finding the solution, ten years later, her granddaughter, Candice, is going to pick up where Abigail left off.

Abigail decides that the answer to the puzzle is to dig up a tennis court and she leverages her position in the city to get a crew of workmen to complete this task. Despite the chief’s repeated questioning, Abigail directs them to begin. By the end of the night, Abigail finds nothing and is suspended from her job by the mayor. The mystery, and the letter containing the clues, is left alone for ten years. 

Ten years after Abigail Caldwell’s mistakes, Candice Miller is just a twelve-year-old “trying to get through a horrible summer” (4). Her parents are recently divorced and now her mother has dragged her to Lambert, South Carolina to a small house once owned by Candice’s grandmother. Candice and her mother must stay there for the summer while Candice’s father helps make renovations to their Atlanta home.