Life-long memories are created when two brothers, Timmy and Jimmy, meet Duncan a talking raccoon who opens their eyes to environmental issues and life lessons. The boys spend summer vacation with their grandparents on Lake Michigan and are jaw-dropped dumbstruck that their grandmother is friendly with a wild raccoon she calls Duncan, whom is amazing in many ways, entrust the boys with her secret that not even grandmother knows, suffers misfortune, then comes to the boys' rescue to prevent bullies from causing another. In telling the story Jimmy reveals his lack of patience, enthusiastic personality, endless curiosity and inquisitiveness, encouraging sense of right and wrong, and eventually the beginnings of a guiding compass and a smidgen of patience he did not think possible – but then again, he did not think a lot of things were possible before the summer began.
Their grandparents' cottage perched on the edge of a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan with crashing waves and sandy beach below, surrounding woods and spring fed creeks, and trips to nearby Mackinac Bridge and Mackinac Island with its historic fort, main street and the Grand Hotel, are the majestic settings for life-changing life-lessons, about the beauty of the built and natural worlds, and the harmful ugliness of the abuse to the latter by misguided humans.
By summer's end the boys' father receives confirmation his job will require relocation to another city, but Jimmy's newly found deeper-thought says he can handle the uprooting of life that will require making new friends among other things. As vacation ends and heavyhearted goodbyes are exchanged, Jimmy reflects on the memories he'll take with him both happy and sad, and about his increased environmental awareness and self-awareness all thanks to his new friend Duncan, the talking raccoon.
