At work, Alice is at odds with another employee, Nancy Gates. In addition, Alice is alarmed to learn that the county has a noxious-weed program that would involve a large expansion of the use of SupraGro pesticides and would affect every road, park, and school in the county. It would also poison wildflowers, and the runoff would pollute creeks and rivers. Bill Chenowith, the department director, announces that he’s retiring and that Nancy will succeed him. Everyone is surprised since they’d assumed that Alice was next in line for the position. Rich Carlson offers her a new position as senior staff manager, with a 15% raise, but that would involve taking on Nancy’s old job as well as her own. Alice turns it down and resigns on the spot. She immediately goes to a meeting of the Watershed Alliance and offers her assistance, using her access to county planning department files to retrieve relevant information. The spraying of pesticides is due to begin in two weeks, and the alliance, now including Alice, resolves to do all it can to stop it.