Following a mail truck after he gets seriously lost in rural Washington state, Kevin finds himself in a tiny, remote town that has no phone service, no Internet, no regular mail service (the mail truck is private), and a population of 32. But it does have paved roads, a Town Hall that could service a city of 30,000, a vegetarian cafe, a tasteful bar, a resident artist, and a Montessori school. And right outside the grand Town Hall is a six-foot statue of a marmot.

The mysteries keep piling up. There aren't enough people in the town to support a single business, but half a dozen services are thriving. An austere old woman who serves as town manager seems to know everything about everyone, including Kevin. Even without phones news travels faster than Kevin can run.

It's not until Kevin decides to stay, and accepts the figurehead job as mayor of the town, that he learns that the town is magical… but not in the way he'd thought. The town manager reveals her secrets and the town's history, the cafe owner and the new mayor fall in love, and the magic spark is handed off from person to person until Kevin and his new wife fulfill their destiny in the town of Marmot.