The Borrow-a-Bookshop is recovering, seven months on from the winter flood that destroyed all its stock, and the latest temporary bookseller, Joy Foley, arrives in Clove Lore with her daughter, five-year-old Radia Pearl - the first bookshop resident to be paid to stay there. Instead of holiday making, Joy is a digital nomad, travelling the world wherever the tech contracts take her. She has zero intention of selling books during her stay; instead she'll be dragging the Bookshop's security, website and stock system into the twenty-first century.
But what no one knows is that Joy is running from Radia Pearl's father and has places to be after this job is over. She can't settle down here or anywhere ... moving on is how she stays safe.
But when Radia befriends (Monty) Bickleigh, ex-fisherman and the new cook at The Siren's Tail pub, Joy finds herself growing closer to him, and the quirky community of Clove Lore.
While Joy settles in to the bookshop, Minty Clove-Congreve, local lady of the Manor, is finding running her new wedding business harder than anticipated. She needs to hire a chief wedding planner, and fast - and Joy's family may have the answer.
As Joy finds her heart softening by the magic of Clove Lore, can her new friends - and Monty - be enough to convince Joy to stop running and stay?