"Esther Larson has been cooking for funerals in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for seventy years. Known locally as the "funeral ladies," she and her cohort have worked hard to keep the mourners of Ellerie County fed-it is her firm belief that there is very little a warm casserole and a piece of cherry pie can't fix. But, after falling for an internet scam that puts her home at risk, the proud Larson family matriarch is the one in need of help these days....

"Home cooks were supposed to use their "feminine instincts" or just guess. But Fannie thought anyone should be able to bake a cake or serve a stew.

Returning home to Pennywhistle, Tennessee, for her beloved daddy's funeral, PJ Spoon, abandoning her PhD program at Vanderbilt, impulsively takes a job as a fry cook at the Chickie Shak, where she meets and falls for Boof, a talented singer-songwriter searching for her birth mother.