Plot Synopsis

When Nicholas was 22 years old, he angrily left his home on Marrow Island after a terrible fight with Charley Garrison, the uncle who raised him and owned the local newspaper where Nick started his writing career. Having cut off all contact and gone out on his own, he wrote a wildly successful novel, entitled "Broken Windows," which led critics to declare him the new voice of his generation. Unfortunately, he's been unable to follow it up with any work as meaningful. So, 15 years later, he has quietly settled into teaching undergraduate writing at a small university. Out of the blue, he learns that Uncle Charley has died. Reluctantly, he heads back home for the funeral. His arrival is met by one mishap after another, reminding him of how quirky and insular the little island can be. Diner owner Velma, bookstore owner Irene and enthusiastic young writer Rudy are eager to see the island's most famous writer return, as are bank manager Rebecca and land-developer Graham Westlake. He learns from local attractive attorney Libby Wainscott that all the interest in him stems from the fact that Charley left him the family's local paper and key property. Eager to divest himself of the newspaper and get back to his teaching post, his new inheritance instead wedges him smack in the middle of a bitter fight over the future of the island. He is soon forced to confront the real reason he left home so many years ago.