This is the challenge left for Ben Maclennon by his grandmother, and the start of an enchanting new trilogy that will take readers deep into the heart of the natural world—and into the secrets of their own souls...

After Grandma Daphne dies, Ben and his sister convince their parents to live in her home for one year, in spite of their mother's misgivings, and in spite of the fierce hermit who lives beyond the swamp.

Ben is convinced that he and Sara can reawaken their parents' joy in the woods—to feel its comfort instead of fear. But it will take a wheelchairbound private eye with a threelegged bloodhound, a Zen-master-like woman, an acorn flute homing device, Grandma Daphne's invisible presence, a tree house knit right into a tree, and a golden thread to help them—and to discover the life-changing answer to the mysterious riddle of the pond.