Samson... background character in all three Chandler books... his a curmudgeon, illtempered, illkept, sits in the park a lot, but he has a few friends - Raina (mom) brings him a sandwich each day and is pleasant, the daughter-in-law who returned to open a lingerie store is nice to him, and he tried to help her out by stealing the crocheted bra/panty sets she sold in an effort to get her make them the talk of the town...

Chase Chandler - oldest brother... at 18, when his father died, he took over the running of the paper, and raising his younger brothers, and being responsible and an example - staying close to home & giving up his dreams of college & a more far-reaching career...

and Sloane Carlisle - her father a senator, who is going to run for vice president and her mother, dead when she was young, from Chandler's town... Sloane's stepmother was her mother's friend, who married her father to help raise Sloane - and both parents were wonderful - and she has teen, twin half sisters... and though loved, she didn't feel as if she quite fit in, and her behavior & choices were dictated by her father's career...

And Chase is feeling freedom... he can go after what he wants now as his brother's are happily married, and Washington DC brother has invited him to DC for the vice presidential announcement and an exclusive interview with Mrs. Carlisle - a friend of Roman's wife... the first night, he wanders into the bar around the block and who sits next to him....

Sloane, going to her parent's hotel room a bit early, she overhears her father's 2 campaign managers saying that it was horrible that her real father from Chandler's and her real mom's home town contacted the senator, and they had to do something to stop it from making the news... and she puts on her more hip clothes and ends up at a bar... sitting next to Chandler, there is (of course) instant attraction - and though Chandler can see that something is bothering her, he is charmed by her looks, her humor, and respects her desire to not share - and they go back to his room - for him, stepping out of the 'expected' role & following an impulse, for her, stepping out of the 'expected' role & looking for a little solice... they are in sync, have great sex... and she leaves before he wakes up in the morning...

Sloane discusses what she heard with her stepmother (her father is in meetings), and realizing that the managers made some sort of threat against her real father, she decides to go to Chase's town to track her father down - to meet him, to find out about herself, to try to head off any political repurcusions, to find the truth, and to warn him... her stepmother sends her off, but during the afternoon press contest, when she meets Chase, she sends him back home immediately (not knowing that the two of them had spent the night together) to watch over Sloane with the promise of an exclusive interview...

Sloane goes to the diner, and asks after Samson and they direct her to his home and a bar in the next town... she goes out to Samson's house, and smells gas, and she starts to leave then the house explodes - and Chandler, tracking her down, gets there just at the explosion - and ...

he takes her home, gets her to tell him the truth... and as they track down Samson, they get closer - though Chandler makes it clear, to himself & to her, that this is for the short term - he has a life to live without responsibilities...

It comes to a head, when he had spent the night ignoring he phone, and then found out his mother was in the hospital (brother took care of her)... so he shut down with Sloane -

finally Sloane & samson meet in the treehouse her mother used to hang out in to get away from her controlling father - and she learns the truth - Samson's home life was bad - a mom who checked out, and a father who gambled... when Sloane's grandfather found out about Sloane, whom he though not good enough, he paid Samson off by taking care of the house mortgage and paying of his father's gambling debts... and he was depressed, wanted to be left alone, became rude & reclusive, and he managed to keep the town peoples nosiness away... and when he saw Sloane on TV, he recognized his love, and he just wanted to meet her - he did not know that her mother was pregnant...

but when they are talking, someone shoots, and hits Sloane's shoulder... just as Chase located her... Chase realizes he loves her (which he knew before), but that he wanted to be with her forever, but when he tries to tell Sloane this, she attributes it to his white knight syndrome and she doesn't want to stick around til he wakes up and resents her depending on him... so she goes home...and Roman='s wife has a baby, and Chase wants one too, for the first time...

They both do some soul searching, Chase getting to the roots of his wanting to control things, so taking on what he shouldn't ... but that he wants a new life with Sloane... and Sloane realizes she can't stop thinking about Chase and wondering if she cut him off too soon... and he writes a touching, gentle story about her father and her senator father that doesn't hurt him... and he arranges to pick her up from theairport by surprise, and takes her to the bed & breakfast his parents went to for their honeymoon... and hives her the words she needs... to show her he truly has thought things through and wants her... so they ...live...happily...ever...after....