Avery Shaw's life is a mess - and that's putting it mildly. County Commissioner Tad Ludington is on the warpath, and his complaints haven't fallen on deaf ears. The new publisher is watching the staff - and Avery is of particular interest. As punishment, he's decided to bust her down to sports - and no one is happy about it. The sports editor hates her, and the rest of the staff is struggling to tolerate her. As for Avery? Her new world has sent her into a tailspin, and no one can console her - even her long-suffering boyfriend Eliot, who can't deal with Avery's depression (or constant attitude).
She desperately wants to chase the story swirling around the dead girl found on a high school's football field. Instead, she's forced to sit through wrestling meets and basketball games. She's not happy, and that means everyone around her isn't happy. No, to be fair, they're downright miserable.
When Avery's current assignment crosses paths with the story she wants to chase, things come to a head. There's a tangled web of steroids, obnoxious teenagers, and sketchy coaches to unravel. When you compound that with Grandpa and Mario's new business venture - they're running a traveling food truck and taking it to local high schools - Avery's tenuous grasp on reality is starting to fray.
Then there's that whole "Jake thing" - you know, how he told her he loved her when he thought he was dying - and Avery is also expending a lot of energy hiding from him. Can this long-suffering reporter climb her way out of sports and survive when she becomes a target yet again?