For most of Ben's life, he has been a kid without a mom. He has his dad, who knows Ben doesn't like oatmeal and always hugs Ben before bed. And he has Sunshine, his loyal little dog, who is never far from his side. But his mom, who left when he was young, has just been a story, faint in his memory. Now he's about to spend a whole week with her on her remote island in the middle of the northern Minnesota wilderness. Though he's nervous about bears...

"Six years ago, when Camden Daniels came back from war without his younger brother, no one in the small town of Alba, Colorado, would forgive him--especially his father. He left, swearing never to return. But a desperate message from his father brings it all back. The betrayal. The pain. And the need to go home again. But home is where the one person he still loves is waiting. Willow. The one woman he can never have. Because there are secrets buried...