Toussaint, Vermont, is so close to the shores of Lake Champlain and the border of Canada that if it was any closer, it would fall in or need to change citizenship. It is a place peopled with quirky characters and peppered with colloquial (and uniquely French-Canadian) language and customs. Here Emerson Giroux still struggles to cope following the death of her husband several years earlier in a freak accident. She is harassed and helped in equal parts by her nearly grown daughter Adrienne, her eccentric, blind friend Marise, and a host of other likely and unlikely characters.
When a tall, handsome stranger returns home, Emerson is shocked out of her grief. But things are not as they seem. Or are they? Is it possible that the most important thing to remember about life is that no one comes out alive? In Toussaint, Vermont, you may just find out. Ringing with strength and hope, Life & Death abounds with humor, craziness, traditional music, romance, and a little old mémère with a tongue like a buzz saw.