Nancy rescues young Judy after the girl falls from a low bridge into a creek.

The Turner sisters explain that Josiah Crowley promised them money, but the only will found leaves everything to the Tophams.

Nancy and her father attend a lunch meeting with attorney Rolsted, who confirms Crowley drafted his own new will.

Nancy is caught in a rainstorm and shelters at the Hoover farm, where Allison and Grace describe their financial struggles.

Mr. Drew agrees to represent the Hoover sisters for free and Nancy arranges a singing audition with a local vocal coach.

Nancy visits Abby Rowen and finds the elderly woman injured, isolated, and with no money for food.

Abby Rowen tells Nancy that Crowley's missing will is somehow connected to an old clock he owned.

Nancy visits the Topham home using charity ball tickets as a ruse and learns the clock was sent to the family's Moon Lake cottage.

Nancy checks into the Moon Lake camp as a paying guest, intending to gain access to the Topham cabin.

Three burglars discover Nancy hiding in a closet at the Topham cabin and lock her inside.

Nancy pries the closet door off its hinges using a clothes bar as a lever and escapes the cabin.

Nancy retrieves Crowley's clock from the thieves' van while the burglars eat inside a roadside inn.

The police chase the thieves' van until it tips into a ditch and all three men are arrested.

Nancy and her father open bank safety deposit box 148 and find Crowley's authentic handwritten will.

The court upholds Crowley's true will, and the rightful heirs receive the inheritance they were long promised.

Nancy Drew stumbles into a mystery when she rescues young Judy and learns that the girl's great-aunts are among many people cheated out of an inheritance by the scheming Topham family. Convinced a second will exists, Nancy interviews witnesses and tracks every lead back to an old clock belonging to the late Josiah Crowley. Her investigation takes her to Moon Lake, where professional thieves trap her in a closet—but Nancy escapes and turns the tables on the criminals. She retrieves the clock from the burglars' van, helps police arrest all three men, and uncovers a journal that points to a safety deposit box holding Crowley's real will. With her father's legal help, the authentic will is verified and brought before a court. Justice finally prevails when the ruling goes in favor of Crowley's rightful heirs, and the Tophams' scheme collapses entirely.

Nancy Drew's race to find Crowley's hidden will and stop the Tophams.

The Turner sisters discover their silver teapot and candlesticks are missing after furniture buyers leave their home.

Nancy reports the theft of the Turner sisters' silver heirlooms to the local police.

Nancy discusses the Crowley will situation and the Turner sisters' plight with her father and Hannah over dinner.

Nancy encounters the Topham daughters at a dress shop, where Ada tears an expensive dress and leaves Nancy to take the blame.

Signor Mascagni auditions Allison Hoover and declares her voice impressive enough to take her on as a student.

Nancy overhears the Topham sisters in a park openly acknowledge that Crowley must have hidden another will.

Nancy visits the Mathews brothers, who confirm that Josiah Crowley promised to include them in a new will.

Nancy bandages Abby Rowen's sprained ankle, prepares her lunch, and donates her own money for the woman's groceries.

Helen Corning visits the Drew home needing help selling charity ball tickets before leaving for Moon Lake camp.

Nancy has a flat tire on the road to Moon Lake but changes it herself and continues driving.

Helen takes Nancy on a boat ride and points out the location of the Topham cabin on the far shore of Moon Lake.

Nancy borrows the camp's motorboat to reach the Topham cabin but the engine stalls in the middle of the lake.

Caretaker Jeff Tucker frees himself from an outdoor shed and confirms the thieves removed Crowley's clock from the mantel.

A state trooper takes Crowley's clock as evidence after Nancy explains how she retrieved it from the thieves' van.

The Hoover sisters give Nancy Crowley's old clock as a memento of her very first detective adventure.

Behind Nancy's headline investigation lies a web of smaller but essential moments that shaped how the case unfolded. The theft of the Turner sisters' silver heirlooms first alerts Nancy to a criminal ring operating in the area, while a tense encounter with the Topham daughters in a dress shop reveals the depths of their willingness to deceive. Nancy builds a network of allies—including a singing coach, struggling farm families, and an injured elderly woman—each of whom provides moral and factual support to her mission. Her friend Helen Corning inadvertently supplies the key that gets Nancy inside the Topham household, and the journey to Moon Lake brings her face to face with both the thieves and the caretaker who confirms the clock's removal. After the chase and arrests, the recovered clock passes briefly through a state trooper's hands before the case reaches its resolution. The Hoover sisters close the story with a heartfelt gesture, presenting Nancy with Crowley's old clock as a token of her very first detective triumph.

The clues, allies, and obstacles that shaped Nancy's investigation.

Nancy vows to find Josiah Crowley's missing will after learning that the Turner sisters and young Judy face serious financial hardship.

Nancy overhears Ada and Isabel Topham in a dress shop worrying that a second will might surface and cost them the inheritance.

Attorney Rolsted's confirmation that Crowley drafted his own will convinces Nancy that a secret document must be hidden somewhere.

Mr. Drew asks Nancy to visit the Hoover sisters while she is out delivering legal documents to a judge in Masonville.

The Hoover sisters tell Nancy that Crowley habitually hid things in such safe places that he could never find them again.

Abby Rowen tells Nancy she personally saw Crowley holding a signed and witnessed will document with her own eyes.

Abby reveals that Crowley recorded the will's location in a personal notebook, though she does not know where the notebook is.

Nancy deduces the Tophams likely possess Crowley's clock and buys Helen's charity ball tickets to use as a pretext to enter their home.

Nancy finds the Topham cabin door open and the caretaker missing, and ducks into a closet when a suspicious man approaches the front door.

Locked in the dark closet, Nancy fights panic and resolves to escape after overhearing the robbers discuss leaving her to her fate.

Nancy spots the burglars eating inside a roadside inn and makes the risky decision to search their unattended van before calling the police.

Nancy discovers a hidden cardboard backing behind the clock face and uses a screwdriver to extract Crowley's concealed journal.

Nancy reads the journal late at night and finds a small key and a notation directing her to a specific bank safety deposit box.

All interested parties assemble at the Drew home, where Crowley's true will is read aloud to everyone for the first time.

The Tophams' own lawyer privately admits the family has little chance of winning a court challenge to Crowley's authenticated will.

The Crowley case turns on a series of pivotal decisions and revelations that steadily narrow the mystery toward its solution. Nancy's commitment to finding the will is sealed early by her encounters with the families Crowley left behind, all of them struggling while the Tophams grow comfortable on a fortune they do not deserve. Each new witness adds a critical piece: one lawyer confirms a will was made, a witness confirms it was signed, and a crucial detail links the document to a hidden clock and a personal notebook. Realizing the Tophams hold the clock, Nancy engineers her way into their home and then pursues the trail to a dangerous showdown at Moon Lake. Escaping the locked closet and making the bold choice to search the thieves' van, Nancy finds the journal that finally reveals where the real will is kept. The gathering at the Drew home brings all parties together for the will's first public reading—and even the Tophams' own lawyer must concede that their challenge has no chance of success.