For bakery owner Hannah Swenson, life in Lake Eden, Minnesota, seems to be lacking a certain flavour. It's not that she doesn't enjoy teaching a weekly "Potluck Cooking" class at the community outreach centre. Or that she's not excited about her sister Andrea's bun in the oven - watching the very pregnant Andrea try to sit on a stool at The Cookie Jar is worth it every time. Maybe it's this year's sheriff's election that's got her down. For years, Sheriff Grant's been the iron hand in town. But now, Hannah's brother-in-law Bill is giving the old blowhard the fight of his long, dubious career - and Grant's not taking it in stride, especially once the local polls (and the Cookie Jar gossip) show Bill pulling ahead. But before anyone can get a taste of victory, things go sour. Just as Hannah's emptying the trash, she makes a very unappetizing discovery: Sheriff Grant's body in the dumpster behind the high school where she's teaching her cooking class. And as if that weren't bad enough, the poor man still has fudge frosting on his shirt from the cupcake she gave him earlier. She'd been trying to find the secret ingredient left out of the recipe - now she has a more important mystery to crack.