"Everything can be fixed by writing a check." Words to live by for Robin Fortune's wealthy father, until he can't buy her way back into college after she's expelled for dealing pot. Now her life never takes a straight path in this intensely satisfying coming-of-age novel.

Home, for Joel Briggs, is the old New England farmhouse on Winter Road. From the front porch, he listens to the barred owls or watches the towering Christmas tree lit up in the yard. It's a quiet road, kind of like his life. Quiet. Until Faye Weston walks right into it. What begins as a chance encounter one bittersweet winter night turns into a cherished friendship. A friendship that neither wants to jeopardize. Yet they do. Unless, like the Christmas...