Moli Soto and her three-year-old son relocate from Los Angeles to the Gulf Coast of Florida, taking refuge with her retired ex-cop uncle Manny who is revitalizing a run-down Florida motel. There, the two share the spare room with a one-hundred-pound Bordeaux Mastiff named the Dude. While earning her keep, cleaning toilets, making beds and running the check-in/check-out desk, Moli finds a semi-comatose guest in Cottage Fourteen and realizes her everyday routine will be turned on its head. When the local police threaten to close the motel down, Moli has to solve the mystery in the sun, sand, and salt of Cabana Bay, or the new place will be forced to close, and her uncle will lose his retirement savings