Nancy and Helen are boating on Twin Lakes. A storm comes up, but they are far from shore! OH NO! As they race for shore, the boat runs into a log and capsizes. Thrown into the water, they are stunned, especially Helen. Nancy won't leave Helen, despite the latter's insistence, but they're also running out of time. She shouts for help, and lo and behold, a girl in a rowboat appears. Later, she tells Nancy and Helen that she walks the shore in a storm, ever since her parents were killed in a boating accident. Nancy and Helen are saved saved saved! The girl's name is Laura Pendleton. As soon as Nancy is out of the risk of hypothermia, Laura asks Nancy to solve a mystery. Because Nancy is totally famous, ya know.
Laura's parents are dead and her guardians are nothing like she expected! It seems that they are only trying to get her valuable jewelry. Nancy is intrigued, of course. While engaging in activities at the lakeside hotel with Helen and Laura, swimming, and otherwise enjoying her leisurely between-mysteries life, Nancy ponders the mystery and runs around helping Hannah Gruen with her broken ankle. It isn't really until the end that anything really happens.
- Nancy dines at the hotel restaurant one night before she sneaks to Laura's house, where she will look for clues while the guardians are away. Other diners "observe her with interest" because the exciting prospect sleuthing brings an "excited flush to her face", making her even prettier. Even complete strangers notice Nancy's awesomeness! *snorts*
- Carson Drew is working on an embezzlement case and sends Nancy to visit a few people named in the case to see if they could be involved. I'm sure his superiors wouldn't mind at all that he sent his eighteen-year-old daughter to help on the case. But, as so often happens, this ties into the main plot.
