For his 69th birthday in 1993, Raymond Foster, a widower and retired high school English teacher, receives a present of an 18-day escorted tour of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland from his four children. He joins 24 others, a newlywed couple from Maine, a young man whose presence is connected to a bet, four retired women in their early 60s from Minneapolis (three widows and one never married), three widows in their early 70s from Florida (originally teachers in New York), and seven married couples in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. The tour director is a handsome blonde ski instructor and model, in his early thirties who lives in Lillehammer, the site of the 1994 winter Olympics. He gets involved with one of the wives.