After locating one of her mother’s high school newspaper stories about Reginald Willey Day back in 1988, Violet rushes to the QM public library and tries to decipher the meaning of her mother’s latest clue. While there, she encounters Gerald Ames, the suspicious assistant librarian, who seems to be inspecting a page from one of town founder Reginald Willey’s biographies. Gerald writes something down on a piece of paper and then quickly discards it. Becoming curious, Violet retrieves the paper and finds it is a code that states: Time is a clock, just like any other. It can be fixed.

Asking Dr. Amodeus Harrington-Willey for help, Violet and the physicist explore the town clock tower and find it has been broken into. After a violent confrontation with two members of the Order of the Arranger, Violet and the doctor locate another code, inscribed on a plaque within the tower: In order to fix Time, you must listen to all the notes.

Violet celebrates her eighteenth birthday and receives a message in a very difficult code and wonders who her new secret admirer might be. The next day she asks her father about her mother’s missing files, and he suggests they look at her old newspaper office, The Question Mark Sentinel. While there, Violet makes a number of significant discoveries: she learns her mother was reporting on overdose deaths in town before the fatal accident that claimed her life, she learns that Officer Ron’s father died in an accident while on duty as a police officer, and she learns that the golden man–the strange figure she saw near Tanner Pratt’s house–had been spotted in town as far back as the 1930s. She also finds a code from her mother in her mom’s last published story, telling her to go ask editor-in-chief Ben Fortune for help.

Meanwhile, Officer Ron ventures to the Holy Romaine Empire and, with Holly Peterson’s assistance, confronts his fear of healthy food. There the two contemplate their future together. Later, at a Valentine’s dinner, Holly asks Officer Ron if he would join her in leaving town. Ron, surprising himself, quickly agrees.

Violet seeks out Ben Fortune and he advises her to try to pick up her mother’s overdose investigation, even suggesting that she go to talk to local drug dealer, Titus Towns. Will Violet be able to confront her greatest personal challenge and find closure regarding her mother’s death? And what of the odd newspaper story detailing the dismissal of Mayor Vreelander? What other dramatic difficulties might soon befall the citizens of Question Mark?