A new girl arrives at the Sugarhouse, Belle Saint Marie, “a dusky Cajun princess with snapping black eyes and a body no man could ever forget once he'd seen it.” A lovers’ triangle develops, with tragic consequences for local hayshaker Paul Greenfield. The villagers elect a new mayor who fires...

The five boys turn 17 and start going to the Sugarhouse “to get some sugar.” They get jobs working for the Otsego County Highway Department, and hang out at the Glimmerglass and the Oaksville Hotel. Donny catches the Monster of Eel Pond, a giant fish coveted for years by locals.

Three years later. Donny begins playing hockey on frozen Otsego Lake with Turk and three other boys who become his closest friends, Wes Cameron, Frank Finocchio and Willy One-Nut. One night the boys skate down a frozen creek that flows past the Sugarhouse. Attracted by music and whooping laughter...