Chip, an upbeat, 121/2 year old runaway, befriends an interesting assortment of unhappy residents in a rural retirement home. Three crises confront them: should they contact the authorities about the homeless, unsupervised child; how can they handle the imminent foreclosure on the home; and Chip going missing in the midst of a terrible blizzard. Some will read it as an upbeat winter holiday story. Others will see it as a study of relationships in which everybody grows and benefits. Either way it presents a heartwarming story of life's contrasts: youth with age, happiness with despair, tragedy with triumph.
