Denny Harper is in over his head. He's raising his irate and ever-feisty teenage daughter, Mackenzie, by himself while his estranged wife breaks his heart over and over. When the father he never knew wills him a cabin by a Maine lake, Denny plans to take a week off and get the place ready to sell.

There are a lot of things Mackenzie doesn't like, and change tops the list. But fate doesn't ask her permission over her fourteenth summer. Denny soon finds himself struggling to guide her through an eclectic maelstrom of tragedy and hope for the future.

Change is a part of life, as Denny and Mackenzie find out through joy, heartache, and adaptation. When tragedy shakes Denny's faith to the core, he finds out that Mackenzie is the best daughter anyone could ask for.