The Fixer Upper

Dempsey Jo Killebrew's job as a fledgling lobbyist with a high-powered Washington public relations firm blows up after her boss is implicated in a messy influence-peddling scheme. When the dust settles, she is flat broke, jobless, and-without a paycheck-homeless. Her options range from slim to none.

Then her father steps in with a solution. He's just inherited his grandmother's old homeplace in Guthrie, Georgia, a mansion that comes complete with a name: Birdsong. His hazy memory is that Birdsong was formerly a showplace, a real Victorian wedding cake of a house. He suggests that Dempsey move in, slap on a coat of paint, and sell it for a quick profit.

So Dempsey heads for Guthrie with the intention of sprucing up the house and getting the hell out of Dodge. But, oh, is she in for a surprise. The house looks more like Bird Droppings than Birdsong. It's a moldering hovel, painted Pepto-Bismol pink, with duct-taped windows and a driveway full of junk cars and weeds. And inside is a murderously grumpy old lady-one of Dempsey's distant relations-who's squatting and won't move out.

With nowhere else to turn, Dempsey rolls up her sleeves and pitches in, to fix up the house, come to terms with her tenant, and along the way, perhaps find a new and better life for herself.