Dock Bass is a carpenter-turned-realtor in upstate New York. He
has a social-climbing wife he doesn't love, or even like, a job he
hates, and a rapidly crumbling sense of self-respect and
self-worth. Like a lot of people, he yearns for a change. Like very
few, he decides to leave his life behind, hit the road, and go
looking for it.
He finds it in Pennsylvania, of all places. Summoned to
Gettysburg by a law firm, he learns that he's inherited an ancient
house from a deceased relative he never knew existed. Renovating
the place, Dock stumbles upon a treasure trove of Civil War
memorabilia squirreled away in an old root cellar, including
pictures and possibly even a recording of Abraham Lincoln at
Gettysburg. And in a world where John Kennedy's golf clubs are
worth $750,000, what dollar figure does one place on items
connected to the greatest Americal president at the venue of his
most inspiring and memorable speech?
Plenty, Dock soon finds out, as he's forced to defend his new
find from the onslaught of collectors, history buffs, and media
hounds descending on his doorstep. Fortunately, like Honest Abe
himself, he's the right man for the fight-independent, funny,
loyal, and stubborn as a Missouri mule. When the scallywags and
opportunists-including an easy-on-the-eyes television reporter with
one hell of an attitude-start crawling out of the woodwork, he'll
need all of that.
And maybe a little more.