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Relentlessly cheerful and hopelessly Panglossian Rachel's seemingly perfect life is upended one Christmas Eve when her husband Tom announces he has taken a contract out on her life but is having second thoughts about his decision to do so. Wearing only a nightgown and slippers, she hastily leaves her Connecticut home in a blizzard to escape the fate he planned for her. She is rescued by Springfield, Massachusetts social worker Lloyd, who brings her home to his deaf, mute, paraplegic wife Pooty. Rachel moves in with the couple and begins working with Lloyd at Hands Across the Sea, a charitable ...Read More
Relentlessly cheerful and hopelessly Panglossian Rachel's seemingly perfect life is upended one Christmas Eve when her husband Tom announces he has taken a contract out on her life but is having second thoughts about his decision to do so. Wearing only a nightgown and slippers, she hastily leaves her Connecticut home in a blizzard to escape the fate he planned for her. She is rescued by Springfield, Massachusetts social worker Lloyd, who brings her home to his deaf, mute, paraplegic wife Pooty. Rachel moves in with the couple and begins working with Lloyd at Hands Across the Sea, a charitable organization dedicated to helping the disabled.
Eventually Rachel discovers both Lloyd and Pooty harbor secrets, his about a family he destroyed and abandoned, hers concerning a deception that has guaranteed her a life of ease and comfort. The trio's tranquil existence dissolves the following Christmas, and Rachel and Lloyd find themselves on a cross-country odyssey that takes them through numerous towns named Springfield, dogged by disaster. Lloyd's kindly facade shatters, and Rachel encounters a number of odd characters, including a less-than-helpful therapist and Tim Timko, the host of a television game show. Finally, having lost the power of speech, she finds herself in a homeless shelter run by Sister Margaret, who has her own share of dark secrets.
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