When the luscious Lucille spurns his advances, beer-sodden, indigent Otis Easley decides to try to raise his status. As a self-styled Independent Communist Marxist he contests a federal election in Fredericton, aided by his drinking buddy, Cat Martin, and a six hundred dollars campaign fund. But the road ahead of him is difficult. The competition is entrenched and mean. The electorate had never seen a Communist, real or fancied. Otis must put together a dynamic team, solve thorny financial problems, forge new alliances and grab headlines to fight the good fight. He must also avoid...

When Harry Kenner stopped for the two hitchhikers, he could not guess that they would change his life. Not only would he fall in love with one of them, he would fall hard for both of them. One of the hitchhikers, Vally, is seven years old and, as a Down Syndrome child, possesses an extra chromosome in her genetic make-up. Her mother calls it "a happiness gene" - an "extra" given her by a kindly Creator. It is her sweetness and vitality, as well as her vulnerability that first captures Kenner's heart. Not long after, Vally's unwed mother, Katherine, finds her way into the same heart. Her...