Trama

JJ, grieving the loss of her grandmother and seeking inspiration, stumbles upon an unexpected holiday destiny. Meeting Henrik, a Norwegian from Bergen, their connection deepens when he discovers she has a troll figurine from his hometown.

JJ, grieving the loss of her grandmother and seeking dissertation inspiration, stumbles upon an unexpected holiday destiny. Meeting Henrik, a Norwegian from Bergen, their connection deepens when he discovers she has a troll figurine from his hometown. To explore the troll's history and her grandmother's ties, JJ agrees to join Henrik on a journey to Norway. In Bergen, they're drawn into Henrik's family Christmas and wedding traditions, with his sister's wedding the day before Christmas Eve. JJ embarks on a holiday adventure, uncovering the troll's origins and finding her own path to healing, love and family.

All alone in the world with the recent passing of her maternal grandmother Florence who raised her, Minneapolis-based Jessica Johnson, who goes by JJ as Jessica Johnson is all too common a name, is a Ph.D. candidate in Meteorology at the University of Minnesota, she supposed to complete her dissertation by the imminent end of this fall semester. She is also a substitute high school science teacher to pay the bills. She again is reminded at how common her name is when her coffee shop order is mixed up for another Jessica Johnson, who was just in the process of breaking up with her Norwegian boyfriend, Henrik Strom. Henrik, who walks with a limp, admits to JJ that everything that his Jessi said in the brutally direct breakup was true in his life being a mess, including he being between jobs. In having purchased a non-refundable ticket for Jessi to travel to his hometown of Bergen, Norway for the Christmas holidays, the trip specifically to attend his sister Nora's wedding, Henrik offers JJ the ticket for free in believing it fate when he sees that she owns a carved wooden troll figurine that was specifically from Bergen. The troll was Florence's prized possession, JJ who has no idea where Florence got it from as she had never to her knowledge visited Bergen let alone Norway. While JJ has no intention of taking Henrik up on the offer, even on the condition that all they have to see of each other is on the two sets of flights, JJ does ultimately accept the offer due to circumstance, including it a caveat by her advisor Bill Chisholm to provide her much wanted dissertation extension and upon she learning that Florence had indeed traveled to Bergen, JJ now having more reason to find out the troll's origins and why her grandmother was there. In Bergen, further circumstance leads to JJ staying with Henrik's grandmother Astrid, meaning JJ being ensconced with the wedding preparations in-between trying to find out about the troll. The more time JJ and Henrik spend together, the more JJ learns about him, including the true nature of Jessi in his life, the reason for his limp, and why he hesitated for such a long time to go back home to Bergen. She also discovers more about herself, facts which had been sorely missing in her life making her feel somewhat lost especially after Florence's passing.—Huggo