Branston Cates is cursed. For more than a century his family has suffered all kinds of atrocities after the murder of Brant's great-grandfather, William Cates. He pays little attention to the legend until he loses his wife and son. Brant is willing to do anything to end the curse, even traveling to the most infamous whorehouse in Texas, Miss Hattie's Henhouse. While he's investigating his grandfather's shooting, he plans to do research on the woman occupying his dreams-the late Miss Hattie Ladue. Except instead of finding information about his grandfather, or a sultry ghost, he finds three old Texas gals.

Elizabeth Murphy lives a quiet life in Bramble, Texas until she inherits a house of ill repute along with three stubborn women. Her plan is to sell the house quickly and find a retirement home for the ladies before anyone discovers that Elizabeth is Miss Hattie Ladue's great-granddaughter. But "the hens" want to keep the henhouse and reopen it with a fresh batch of "spring chickens." The only person standing in their way is a virginal librarian who seems to have forgotten that hot "hen blood" runs through her veins. And who better to heat up a woman than the handsome stranger who arrives on their doorstep? A stranger who the hens are more than willing to lie to to keep at Miss Hattie's.

However, it takes Brant's brother buying the house and restoring it to its former glory, and an intriguing frumpy librarian he can't seem to resist to get Brant to stay.