'Bear,' she cried. 'I love you. Pull my head off.' Lou is a librarian at the local Heritage Institute who lives a mole-like existence, buried among maps and manuscripts in her dusty basement office. The chance to escape the monotony of her city life comes when she is summoned to a remote island to inventory the late Colonel Jocelyn Cary's estate. Hoping for an industrious summer of cataloguing, Lou heads north. Colonel Cary left behind many possessions, but no one warned her about the bear. After a tentative start, Lou soon begins to anticipate the animal's needs for food and company. And, as summer blooms across the island, she discovers that the bear might satisfy some needs of her own.