The Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia is an unlikely place for anyone, much less a city girl, to go on summer vacation. But Tabitha braves the brain-searing heat and swarms of blood-sucking mosquitoes to spend the time with her father, a professor and Swampmaster. While fending off snaggle-toothed alligators, venomous snakes, and a cantankerous bear, Tabby makes friends with Mable, a real "swamp thing" of a woman who "learns" her more about life than any city ever could. Through a ravenous wildfire and a killer hurricane, Tabby helps her father and Aunt Mable solve the mystery of why someone is trying to lay claim to Mable's homestead in the swamp.