She's cheerful, she's charming, and she's sitting on Maeve's front porch. No, not a long-lost friend, but an American bulldog named Happy, and she belongs to Maeve Stephens now, whether Maeve wants her or not. Maeve's been laid off, cheated on, mugged... so when she learns that her birth mother has left her a house, a vintage VW Beetle, and a marauding cat, she packs up and moves, hoping to start fresh in the small town of Timber Creek, Washington. Her new life includes a reclusive but tempting author living next door and a set of ready-made friends at the St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets, where women knit colorful sweaters for the dogs and cats in their care. But there's also an undercurrent of something that doesn't sit right with Maeve. What's the secret that her mother had hidden? If Maeve is going to make Timber Creek her home, she must figure out where she gits in and unravel the truth about her past. But is she ready to be adopted again - this time, by an entire town?