On a dark November night, Kate is awakened by the murmur of voices. The voices seem to be coming from one of the lower rooms of the farmhouse. Kate sneaks down the stairs and listens to a conversation. She learns that Papa Nordstrom has to take a job as a lumberjack in a logging camp. They had just found each other as a family, and now Papa has to leave. He will be away from the farm for two or three months during the worst of winter. How will they get through the winter without Papa? What if something goes wrong? And indeed: inexplicably, items are disappearing from the farm. Will Kate and Anders uncover the mystery this time as well? For boys and girls aged 9 and up.