Magnolia Hills' is a two-part book. It opens with the introduction of a student-housing apartment landlord. Bosses order her to give eviction notices to three residents. An advocacy group enters the town, to represent the students and guarantee justice. The law is cast aside, as the groups collide in the town square. Magnolia Hills is shaken, reeled, and awestruck at the outcome. In the second part, a kindhearted woman is injured in a factory accident. Her husband seeks retribution on the town, and enacts a crime ring that stuns and cripples the city. City leaders try and assuage the situation, to continue to present the image of a quaint, unified Magnolia Hills.