Abandoned at 14 and preferring a tent in the woods to life in a foster home, Danny Smith is losing the fight to keep her dreams for the future alive until she meets Aldo, a broken old man with a colorful past. As the unlikely pair combine wits to ride out a dangerous storm and the difference in age gives way to the magic of friendship, it seems something more than random 'good luck' brought them together. Under Mister Al's eye, Danny's optimistic view of the future returns and expands as he shares knowledge, of mechanics, geology, engineering, and history. For Al, mentoring the lonely teen brings joy and magic back into his life, and it seems the magic rubs off on Danny when she agrees to search the neighborhood woods for a 100-year old stone cottage lost somewhere in the tangled expanse. The search for the Stone Shed takes Danny to the heart of a forgotten forest where mystery and dreams overlap beneath the jealous eye of Mother Nature. "Hiding Places," book one of the Kudzu Cottage trilogy tells of the secret places we discover when we look a little deeper and the combination of history, ecology and current technology in a character-driven, mystery-adventure appeals to all ages. Kudzu Cottage has been described a modern day Huckleberry Finn.