Growing the Big One

Seattle radio call-in show host Emma Silver is called back to the small town of Valleyville, three hours away, upon learning of the death of her grandfather, farmer Walt Silver. Like every farmer in Valleyville, Walt primarily grew pumpkins, as Valleyview holds a competitive annual pumpkin-growing contest. Emma has not been back to Valleyville, where she used to visit all the time as a child, since her parents' tragic deaths when they were visiting there while she was away at college. As his next of kin, Walt deeds the farm to Emma despite knowing that she knows nothing about farming, and deeds her a few seeds from his last award-winning pumpkin, the latest in a lineage. In a note to her, he asks her to make sure the spirit of his legacy in the farm is preserved, if not by her than by someone she trusts will honor it. He also mentions that he hopes she can deal with issues that he could not during his life, which she learns is a $75,000 mortgage on the farm, due at the end of the current year's growing season. Walt's death also leads to Emma getting to know some of her new Valleyview neighbors, some of who have an agenda. Valleyville Mayor Kyle Finster, also the bank manager, wants Emma to sell Walt's farm to a developer, in the name of the town's "progress," and to foreclose if need be to get that to happen. Emma's next-door neighbor Seth Cullen, who earns a living as a mechanic running such a business on his farm, wants to buy some of Walt's pumpkin seeds in an effort to open his own garage on Main Street to compete against Mighty Muffler, a chain outfit coming to town as part of the Mayor's progress. Emma also learns that Seth's plan involves winning the pumpkin-growing contest, which has the potential of a $50,000 prize if the world record of 1,878 pounds for a single pumpkin is broken. In combination with work issues resulting from a corporate merger, Emma decides to stay on the farm for the season to try and win that $50,000 prize to save the farm. As Emma tries to learn all she can about farming, including the secrets of the other locals and of her late grandfather, she may come to the realization of who may be best to look after Walt's legacy in the long term, and what she herself wants for her life.