Summer Ames is trapped in the nightmare morning from hell. Her alarm clock didn't go off, she accidentally backed over the rosebush her grandfather gave her grandmother right before he accepted defeat against prostate cancer, she's wearing clothes she picked up off the floor, and when she opens the door to her classroom, the lights from the TV cameras nearly blind her.

Betts Monroe is a country music rags-to-riches story. As the daughter of the town slut, she clawed her way up from the bars of Bourbon Street to the Country Music Hall of Fame. She's America's sweetheart, darling of the media, and a multi-platinum star. But she has a secret. At the age of sixteen, she had a baby and gave him up for adoption because her boyfriend wasn't ready for fatherhood. Now she finds out that her precious baby boy has been living with his father from day one.

Everything's bigger in Texas, and that goes double at the Texas Rose Ranch, home to the Rose family through five generations of toil, sweat, and scandal. From the moment CanDee McCain is hired to write a history of the Roses' empire, she's bowled over by tall, sexy Cinco Rose. True, the man initially mistakes her for a stripper, but he certainly puts the man in manly. For the first time since her cheating ex left, stealing her novel-in-progress in the process, CanDee is ready to have a little fun.

The start of Lee Burrows and I was a college girl’s biggest fantasy. Campus’ most popular guy, the starting quarterback, the same guy I’ve crushed on forever, notices me—the quiet introvert. Although, he never would’ve noticed me if he didn’t need my help passing our biology class. I didn’t think I had a chance with him until he started flirting with me and asking me questions like, “Who was the guy you were talking to?” and “Do you have a boyfriend?”

All is quiet in Lakeside until Molly Miars, the kindergarten teacher, is found dead. According to the new police chief, she overdosed on heroin. That doesn't explain why her head was the only body part to make it to her funeral. Mustang and her fellow PTOers don't buy the heroin overdose for a second. Vowing to do right by Molly, the PTO decides to investigate. Quickly they find that Lakeside isn't the quiet, sleepy town it appears to be. There is a dark side - money laundering and drug trafficking.