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. They 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 named Duncan, who is amazing in many ways, who 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 good 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' charming cottage perched on the edge of a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan with crashing waves and sandy beach below and surrounding woods with 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 its 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 new-found deeper thought tells him he can handle the uprooting of his life that will require making new friends among other things. As vacation ends and they say their goodbyes and leave this wonderful bluff on Lake Michigan with its mesmerizing sunsets, 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.