It’s winter, and Atlanta’s dining scene is upended by a mystery person who’s dining and dashing at the city’s trendiest restaurants. But he’s not just running out on checks like some high school or college prankster. He’s apparently using real magic and hypnosis, vanishing into thin air and leaving behind deeply disoriented waitstaff who can only recall that he was very, very handsome. The so-called “Dashing Diner” is also upsetting – on principle! – Atlanta chefs, restaurant critics, and influencers.

As these escapades unfold across the fair southern city, we meet:

• Billy Odunewu, the lonely, middle-aged Atlanta Police Detective who’s working the Dashing Diner case and trying to figure out exactly how this turkey is pulling his tricks

• Adeline Courson, the volatile, talented, and well-seasoned chef who might’ve picked the wrong time to open her first restaurant, an eponymous French-Cajun affair in Decatur

• Maury “The Magnificent” Rothstein, a romantic has-been magician who serves as an adviser – on magic and life – to Detective Billy

• Cherie Cassidy, Adeline’s preternaturally skilled waitress and front-of-house manager – and, as its resident empath, the one who’s keeping the place from collapsing in failure

• Luc Kristina, Adeline’s sous chef who could one day become a talented chef in his own right if he would quit with the drinking, drugging, and slutting.

Each has suffered profound loss, and true love has seemingly escaped them. But in the shadow of the Dashing Diner case, and amid the blossoming success of Adeline’s, a genuine magic unfolds.