Once upon a time in Manhattan...there stood a pair of fine old brick townhouses on West Tenth Street. One had a blue door with a tarnished brass knocker in the shape of a dolphin. The other was empty. Behind the blue door lived Sadie, the widow of a famous British rocker who died of an overdose, and two of her children, Hamish and Deen. The children manage to muddle along as best they can with a loving but distracted mother. But their whole world changes when the house next door gets a new owner--a mysterious Southerner who quickly endears himself to his new neighbors, taking them--and their friends--under his protective wing. In doing so, he transforms everything.