Jo Lauer

Best Laid Plans Jo Lauer

A Victorian mansion in a swanky San Francisco neighborhood is the setting for The First Step, a recovery house for a colorful cast of female ex-felons. Florence, the wealthy octogenarian benefactress, has underwritten blue collar social worker Shalese's dream. At what price do our dreams come true? Is someone really getting away with murder? When Shalese's ex-lover Mab--lesbian bar owner by night, PI by day--uncovers Florence's unsavory history, the women of The First Step find themselves temporarily homeless. Turning grapes into wine, Shalese, her partner Jenny--a trust-fund baby and ex-felon herself, and Mab relocate their recovery house, renaming it The Next Step, to the vineyard hills of Santa Rosa, CA. In the transition, a moldy old cookbook surfaces, over which lives could be lost.