When a chance encounter with Helen, an attractive art dealer, leads to romance and ultimately marriage, television host Ike Martin finds his life suddenly complete, particularly since his new status also makes him step-father to two adolescent boys. But uncertainty creeps in when his show is cancelled and Helen spends more and more time in New York and Paris. As Ike unravels a pattern of deception, their younger son disappears into the snowy Sierra Nevada. Called to the rescue, Ike flies west from Massachusetts and drives into the mountains with a most unlikely sidekick, a satyr-philosopher who is just one of the unforgettable characters in this touching, entertaining first novel.