Kilo wants Maddie, who wants David but thinks he doesn’t respect her. David wants Maddie but must appease his baby mama. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens at the local theater. Maddie and Kylo are both in the cast. Kilo wins. But for how long? If life imitates art, it’s about time David woke up.

When David O’Connell joins his family in Port Townsend, Washington for his sister Teresa’s wedding, they wonder why their normally outgoing, cheerful brother has become subdued and secretive. He balks at discussing his last four years as a surgeon in Africa or his fiancée Sylvia, who is coming to visit.

Family friend Maddie Leftwood is a serious actress in a sex kitten’s body. The air crackles between David and Maddie from the moment their eyes meet. But over Christmas at the O’Connell Compound, David is fully preoccupied with appeasing his prickly fiancée. David has good reason to tread carefully with Sylvia, but Maddie sees no choice but to move on. She has a leading role at the local theater, where her co-star, local heartthrob Kilo, pours on the charm, drawing her into his web.

David knows Maddie is funny and sweet and nothing like the blonde bombshell she appears to be. Maddie knows David is brilliant and complex and refreshingly different from other men. David and Maddie could be great together, if only they can push the reset button. Still, one giant obstacle remains. In Africa, David’s colleagues called him “the magic man.” They didn’t know the half of it.

Cat Treadgold