An illustrated holiday tale for nearly all denominations. Jasper "Kat" Petty has a case of Grinchitis. Most folks suffer a Scrooge-moment now and then, but for Kat, it's a virulent strain that has hung on for sixteen years. In high school, young Petty had the dream of being a novelist tucked into one pocket and a national writing award stashed in the other. But that was before his dad died, leaving the family in financial chaos. Forced to give up college and take a blue-collar job, he now watches his friends start families while he struggles through a string of "Caroles" who love him and leave him in short order-nearly always at Christmas. Enter: Chi, a comic devil who may or may not be God himself. The silver-haired eccentric with the wisecracking mouth and cockeyed view of living and loving shows Kat how to drop his prickly barriers and take one last shot at fulfilling his dreams-with of all things? Another Carole.