Alastair MacNaughton and his uncle, Chauncey Winston, have been at each other's throats for decades. Nobody enjoys a good old-fashioned family dustup as much as these two, but their squabbling has created a deadly paralysis from which the family company, Winston Tug and Barge-the largest maritime transportation concern on the Columbia River-may not emerge. To settle things once and for all, they make an insane, winner-take-all bet. At issue isn't the turn of a card in some soggy waterfront saloon, but whether or not Alastair can complete the construction of the family eyesore: Enoch's Folly, an unfinished, semi-abandoned floating home. From the moment he rolls up his sleeves, Alastair finds himself embroiled in a lethal maelstrom of family legend, eccentric neighbors, break-ins, fires, and Chauncey's malevolent machinations. Indeed, Alastair's only ally might well turn out to be the irascible, telepathic river dragon living beneath Enoch's Folly.