[[NOTE: The paperback edition had to be posted now for me to enter the Storyteller contest. But I'd hold off buying it till I proof it a few times more. Watch this space for the all clear. ]] Two Asian American men, Luke and Kazu, stumble upon a bold, scientific procedure to import hope into the hopeless and vow to open the first store in the world to sell hope over the counter. That's when the miracles and the controversies ensue. The store slogan is: "We don't just instill hope. We install it."Jada Upshaw comes to The Hope Store with an agenda and tons of emotional baggage that simply won't fit under the seat in front of her.

The giddy media descend upon store, and soon a new activist group emerges that calls themselves "The Natural Hopers." In their press release, the group describes a hope installations snarkily: "It's a risky, Frankenstein-like procedure that needs much more research till it can be unleashed on an unsuspecting public." An opposing group, "The Enhanced Hopers," rises up to defends the store and alternative modalities. The factions ultimately have a show-down at a CNN-sponsored event called "A Town Hall Meeting on Hope in the New Millennium." Luke comes to genuinely care about Jada, and marvels at her super-responder status. But when the hallucinations and manic episodes begin, he calls upon scientist partner Kazu to come to the rescue. But if science can't save Jada, can she save herself? Or will she wind up as collateral damage?.