The residents of the small town of Elmwood Springs, Missouri, are simple folks, downright corny at times, but they are also warm and charming and I couldn't help loving this book. I laughed and cried.

Elner Shimfissle is an irrepressible old lady and one morning while up the ladder picking figs she is stung by wasps and falls to the ground, knocked out cold. She is rushed to the hospital and the news travels around the town just as quickly. Her worrywart niece Norma has always feared that something like this was going to happen and Norma's husband Macky is probably going to get an earful for not agreeing with Norma about placing Elner is a nursing home. The town is filled with an interesting assortment of quirky characters, and there's also a bit of a mystery.