<P><B>Once upon a time during five days in a frozen city, strangers fall in love, wishes come true, and lives will never be the same again. Translated by the award-winning translator of <I>The Elegance of the Hedgehog</I>.</B></P><P>When his parents split up, and his dad leaves home, a 10-year-old boy begs the sky to help him. The next day an ice storm covers his city. When the power goes out and the temperature drops, people must turn to each other to survive. But for one neighborhood the catastrophe brings surprising new beginnings. Julie, the dancer who lives across the street, helps Boris, an eccentric Russian mathematician, save his fish from the cold weather. And the urbane Michel and Simon open their door to Alexis, their embittered neighbor, and his son. But will the ice storm bring the boy's parents back together? This hilarious, loveable, and refreshing debut novel reminds us that happy endings might still be possible.