Scott Carey doesn't appear to look any different, although he's steadily been losing weight. And, oddly enough, he weighs the same in his clothes, shoes and all, as he does with no clothes on at all. He knows this is strange, although he also knows if he goes to a regular doctor, he'll be put through all kinds of tests. Mostly to share this odd experience, he tells his friend, Dr. Bob Ellis, who keeps Scott's situation a secret.
At the same time Scott is experiencing this odd weight loss, he's trying to get along with his neighbors, married lesbians who own a local restaurant. It's not a big deal that their dogs poop on Scott's lawn, but he'd like the ladies to at least pick up after the dogs. One of the women is pretty friendly, but the other is downright hostile --- and, as it turns out, isn't making any friends in town. When Scott discovers how much prejudice these women face on a daily basis, he tries to help.
This is a pretty slim book, but it's so well-crafted that you keep turning the pages, not sure of what's going to happen next, and getting pulled in to the story. At least, that's what happened to me. I liked how Scott is an everyday kind of guy, who just wants to try to get along with people but who is secretly battling this weird weight loss (which does play in to the story). Without giving much away, I can say that this is a story about finding common ground, even when people seem as different as night and day. Scott works at this, and I respected his character for that; he doesn't give up even when one of his neighbors continues to be hostile. Is Scott a super well-developed character? No. None of the other characters are either, and if this were a longer book, I could see the problem with that. However, I felt the characters were developed enough for me to imagine them and along with the setting and steady pace, it allowed me to focus on the overall story, which I enjoyed.
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