Patricia Dahlquist

Lucy and Paul return to their childhood home for a celebration dinner when their Uncle Stan shows up with inappropriate gifts for all, and a way-too-young fiancée named Candy. Once the gifts are unwrapped, all Hell breaks loose.

Alix Miller arrives at the isolated Crompton mansion in New Hampshire to paint the portrait of the mysterious Leland Crompton. When they meet, she discovers that he is horribly disfigured from a disease called acromegaly. Nevertheless, friendship, romance, and a deeper understanding develop between the two.

The real-life struggle to contain the environmental and financial damage caused to Alaska by the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez is dramatized.