Cool autumn winds may be sweeping across Cranberry Island, but for innkeeper Natalie Barnes, things are just heating up. On her way to pick cranberries one crisp morning, Natalie makes a grisly discovery: her part-time helper Polly Sarkes, dead of a gunshot wound to the chest.

But murder isn’t Natalie’s only problem. Late at night, ghostly footsteps have been creaking across the attic floor of the inn, leading Natalie to discover that the inn has an unsolved mystery of its own. And when ex-fiance Benjamin Portlock sweeps into town with a gallon Natalie’s favorite ice cream — and an engagement ring — relations with her handsome neighbor John turn as chilly as a Maine October night.