The untimely death of the daughter of wealthy Californian landowners slowly destroys the community that loved her in life.

Eight-year-old Princess Annamay Hyatt rules her avocado kingdom benevolently. With the faithful companionship of her attendants--the two enormous family dogs--precocious Annamay spends her days in the playhouse her wealthy parents have built her in the garden, entertaining her friends—dolls, neighbors, hitchhikers who wander through the avocado groves in search of fallen fruit.

Then one summer day, Annamay disappears. When her bones are discovered a few months later, the news of her murder tears her family apart. Her parents' struggling marriage reaches a breaking point; her bereft grandfather contemplates why he is alive; her beloved housekeeper wonders how she could have made the little girl heed her warnings about strangers; the minister who buried her has lost his faith. Everyone in Annamay's circle is blaming themselves and one another for her death--but who was really responsible?