Meet Margaret "Maggie" Fortenberry, a still beautiful ex-Miss Alabama. When the novel begins, she wants to quit her life in Birmingham, US. She is still a bimbo, but being almost 60, her good manners seem out of place in a modern dog-eat-dog world. She has been a real estate agent at Red Mountain Realty for years on end. Maybe the day she didn't win the pageant was when everything in her life seemed to begin to go downhill, but at this moment, when the movement for the civil rights showed to all the well-meant Birmingham people that no, they didn't prefer to keep to themselves and live in ghettos, the rioting did away with her possibilities. Maggie was a graceful graduate of charm school, but that's not enough. She is unable to fill in the shoes of Hazel Whisenknott, the beloved founder of Red Mountain Realty, a woman who succeeded against all odds. But Hazel and Maggie's world may have changed especially since Babs became the number-one realty agent of the area. She is absolutely ruthless; in fact, her secret is that she moved to Birmingham after having lost her license in another state. She will stop at nothing to continue being considred "The Beast of Birmingham". Other companies have gone under because of her, and Red Mountain Realty may be the next one - the company used to have 20 employees; now, only Maggie, diet-obsessed Brenda and serious Ethel remain.

The fight for the historical site of Clearview has just begun.

It's a charming story. All of Maggie's preparations to commit suicide are quite good fun to read, but nothing happens until more than half of the book has already being read. Brenda and Babs are the most interesting people of all this lot, to tell you the truth. At least they have something going on with their lives.