Includes bibliographical references.

Prologue -- Vermont -- The armed robbery -- Gertrude and the goat -- Peltier's -- Bats and bears and skunks. Oh my. -- Arrested again -- Holidays and holy days -- The HQCS -- In like a lamb -- Mud season -- The Alamo -- After words.

"How one woman's dream of moving to Vermont--raising children, chickens, and sheep & running the old country store--pretty much led to one calamity after another"--Jacket.

Rural Vermont: mountains ablaze in autumnal glory, Main Streets quaint and welcoming. When Stimson decides she wants to own and operate the old-fashioned village store in idyllic Dorset, pop. 2,036, one of the oldest continually operating country stores in the country, she learns the hard way that "improvements" are not always welcomed warmly by folks who like things just fine the way they'd always been. She chronicles her immersion into rural life, fighting off skunks, foxes, and bears, and making a few friends and allies in a tiny town steeped in local tradition.