Bad things always seem to happen around Christmas, which is also Angela Stark’s birthday. On December 1, she is both fired and evicted. The next day, her car dies.

She lives in San Francisco, the most expensive city in the country and was working as a maid. Who will hire her now, a month before Christmas? Especially if they find out why she was fired.

She has no family other than an overly vocal, elderly cat named Sam. As a last resort, she could probably stay with her friend Jane temporarily, but Jane is allergic to cats.

Just as she’s about to get her courage up to make the call and ask for help, a letter arrives by certified mail.

With information about the will of a grandmother she never knew she had.

And now this grandmother, Olivia Stark, has left her a cottage on Nantucket, a small island clear across the country. A quick google search tells her that selling it could be the answer to all of her financial problems. There’s also a bank account with just about enough money to cover some needed repairs and a plane ticket to Nantucket.

So, off she goes, intending to fix the house as fast as possible, sell and move home to San Francisco.

But then she meets the Hodges family.

And finds an old journal of her grandmother’s while cleaning a closet.

She also meets a charismatic, writer/film producer who splits his time between Nantucket and LA. Everyone warns her that Philippe Gaston isn’t one to settle down, and he admits it himself, even as he finds himself drawn to Angela.

But Angela is on a mission to fix up the cottage, sell and return to San Francisco. She’s not looking to set down roots somewhere new.