Through all the adventures Lil and Russell had experienced together, none of them would equal their new challenge: her pituitary tumor. Or the struggle that quickly ensued with Batsy's new family. While Benjamin Pennington is at the cabin, Lil finds herself on the floor of the kitchen, unable to speak. Russell decides to continue what he started after Lil was attacked by Arnie in the cabin and write a book about their marriage. There was only one past for them: a combined one where they married young, he went to medical school, and then raised their sons on the mountain. This was a gift Lil could never match - nor the one he would build with his hands and sweat. Humor and fear also arrive in the middle of her illness, their home invaded by a woman from Russell's past. This one, however, Lil can't blame on him. And none of them, even Pennington's past history with the woman's family, could have foreseen the damage the blue-eyed expensive blonde would do to them. In addition, to the surprise of both her and Russell, they discover the truth in the handiworks of the Lord. The Lord had delivered to Russell Thorn Barrington the Fifth, his first love - his Flame of Auburn.