Když Barry Fairbrother ve svých čtyřiceti letech náhle zemře, městečko Pagford je v šoku. Pagford je na první pohled ztělesněním anglické idyly, s dlážděným náměstíčkem a prastarým opatstvím, ale za hezkými fasádami domů probíhá válka. Bohatí válčí s chudými, mladí se svými rodiči, manželky s manžely, učitelé s žáky... Pagford zkrátka není takový, jak vypadá. A prázdné místo, které zbylo v městské radě po Barrym Fairbrotherovi, zaviní největší válku ze všech.
Pickpocket John Jacob Turnstile is on his way to be detained at His Majesty's Pleasure when he is offered a lifeline, what seems like a freedom of sorts - the job of personal valet to a departing naval captain.
For the first time in Stephen King's remarkable publishing history, the master storyteller presents an all-new, original tale written expressly for the television screen. They're calling it the Storm of the Century, and it's coming hard. The residents of Little Tall Island have seen their share of nasty Maine Nor'easters, but this one is different. Not only is it packing hurricane-force winds and up to five feet of snow, it's bringing something worse. Something even the islanders have never seen before. Something no one wants to see. Just as the first flakes begin to fall, Martha Clarendon, one of Little Tall Island's oldest residents, suffers an unspeakably violent death. While her blood dries, Andre Linoge, the man responsible sits calmly in Martha's easy chair holding his cane topped with a silver wolf's head...waiting. Linoge knows the townsfolk will come to arrest him. He will let them. For he has come to the island for one reason. And when he meets Constable Mike Anderson, his beautiful wife and child, and the rest of Little Tall's tight-knit community, this stranger will make one simple propoisition to them all: "If you give me what I want, I'll go away."