A novel narrated by the middle son in a family of five children, one bear, and one dog. Describes the Berry family growing up in three different hotels on two separate continents.

To outsiders, Appleville, New Hampshire, is a storybook small town complete with a little white church and a gazebo on the village green. To Gincy Gannon Luongo, it was a place to escape from, as quickly and as permanently as she could. Since she moved away twenty years ago, Appleville has been her hometown in name only. But at her brother Tommy's urging, Gincy is coming back to visit their recently widowed mother in the weeks leading up to Christmas...