When nonprofit director Tessa Vale is tasked with keeping Alder Square's restored clock at the center of Founders Weekend, the project quickly becomes more than a fundraiser deadline. Watchmaker Malcolm Ainsley discovers the mechanism is in worse shape than the council admitted, and the two are forced into close, careful work as they measure, clean, and repair a clock that keeps revealing new problems. As the winter crowds build and pressure from the town mounts, Tessa and Malcolm begin to trust each other in small but consequential ways. What starts as a practical partnership grows into something more as they face honesty, exhaustion, and the risk of letting someone truly stand beside them while the clock's first full chime in years draws near.
When nonprofit director Tessa Vale is tasked with keeping Alder Square's restored clock at the center of Founders Weekend, the project quickly becomes more than a fundraiser deadline. Watchmaker Malcolm Ainsley discovers the mechanism is in worse shape than the council admitted, and the two are f...