Trama

Tod and Buz come to Oregon City, Oregon to work in a paper mill. They rent a room in a house with a family that has "more tears than laughs". The family includes a ne'er-do-well,an occultist, an old maid teacher ,a threatening teen and a young girl. They are all pulling in different directions and accomplishing nothing.—dubchi

Tod and Buz arrive in Oregon City, Oregon - the oldest incorporated city in the US west of the Rockies - with jobs and a place to stay prearranged. They immediate feel they may regret their housing choice when they arrive on the doorstep of what looks to be the creepy old house in which they have rented a room, and further when they meet their landlords who seem to have troubles hidden in every corner. They are: Maggie Carter, who runs the house while pulling in a few extra dollars working as a psychic, holding séances with customers in the house, and whose family, the Elys, has long owned the house; her weak willed unemployed husband, Van Carter; and their precocious adolescent daughter, Corinne Carter. Also living in the house is Maggie's twenty year old nephew, Michael Ely, the Carters who have acted as his guardian since his parents passed away, and who, initially unknown to Tod and Buz, actually owns the house, it deeded to him from his father. Michael plans to kick out the Carters when he takes legal possession when he turns twenty-one. Michael is an angry young man who is largely the cause of his own problems. Coinciding with Tod and Buz's arrival is the unexpected arrival of Autumn Ely, Maggie's spinster schoolteacher sister from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, although Autumn implies that her arrival should not be a surprise. Based on the amount of luggage, Autumn seems to plan to stay for quite some time, despite also implying that she has some unhappy memories in that house. The reason for Autumn's visit may unearth the long held problems of the Ely family, which includes Michael's anger.—Huggo