A new house. A new town. A bad smell.

Mary's trying to cope with her husband's drinking and worse when he announces he's found his own unique solution to her infertility. Now she faces some big decisions quickly. Where she can afford to live on a development editor's salary? And will avocado green bathroom fixtures or bad smells have to be involved?

Meanwhile, small town cop Winslow decides he really should try to find a wife before he ends up like his last welfare check, poor deceased Agnes. However, he doesn't want anyone in his small town to know he's looking.

And the local Episcopal priest is so unhappy, he prays to escape his bad marriage without pausing to add any theologically-sound caveats.

Soon it's Christmas in Lawson, New Hampshire. Will these three lonely hearts get any of what they're longing for?

This is a short prequel to THE AWFUL MESS and the other Lawson (New Hampshire) novels that follow it, but it also stands alone for anyone who's ever been desperate to start over. (It also includes the first five chapters of THE AWFUL MESS.)