Pearl's tiny garden of Eden is transformed into a battlefield when the out of towners come to Whitstable...

Pearl Nolan's coastal allotment has always been a quiet haven - somewhere for her to cultivate ingredients for her restaurant. But a sudden clamour for allotments by the DFLs - Down From Londoners - causes tension in the local community when the council decides to accommodate them by dividing existing plots into smaller parcels. The harmony that once existed between holders of land previously blighted only by slugs and caterpillars, soon transforms into a bitter turf war... and matters only deteriorate as a pushy DFL takes over as new chair of the allotment committee and insists on some new strict rules.

A rash of crop rustling and sabotage breaks out. Pearl's services as private detective are called upon to discover the culprit but before she can do so, what began as a tiff among the turnips soon becomes a hunt for a killer when gardening tools are put to murderous use...