Fanny Porter, besieged rural community librarian, ends a video call with her friend Liza Johnson with the cryptic words "You know I'm in deep, and it's scaring me." Several days later, she is found dead on a lonely county road near the town of Ravens Valley.
At the funeral, Liza and her neighbor, Mrs. Wilkens, discover a town cloaked in fear. People are afraid to attend the funeral because Fanny was embroiled with a powerful group trying to ban books in the library. But the fear goes deeper in a community dependent upon the Santos Brothers Farm for its survival. When Goldie, Liza's cat, is poisoned, Liza and Mrs. Wilkens race against time to discover the secret of Ravens Valley.