Fredericka Mercedes Hildebrand Ware (Frede to her friends) is a member of the Junior League, an elite organisation whose members live by a set of Rules for Acceptable Behaviour. But what is one to do when one's husband betrays one, steals one's money and disappears to places unknown? In her hour of need, there's only one person Frede can turn to for help: Howard Grout, the gold-medallion-wearing lawyer next door. But it will cost her. The price? To get Howard's wife accepted into the Junior League!