The Grinch was rejected by the Who's as a child and has been living in spiteful seculsion for most of his life. He has always hated the citizens of Whoville. That especially goes for Christmas with the Who's noise, phony sentiment and wasteful materialism. When little Cindy Lou Who attempts to transcend the festivities' empty commercialism by inviting the Grinch ends with his public humiliation, the Grinch hatches upon on his supreme scheme to ruin...

The story covers one Labor Day week-end in a small Kansas town, and tells about the impact a virile drifter has on the lives of several women in town.

Ray Waller, a former major league baseball player is forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, he moves into a new home with his concerned wife Eve, teenage daughter Izzy, and young son Elliot. Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades Eve that the new home's shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for him. But a dark secret in the home's past will unleash...