On the other hand, his younger brother, Fudge, who is five years old, anticipates the vacation because of his plans to marry her as a means of protection against the supposed "monsters" hiding beneath his bed, knowing that spouses often share one.

Also, along the way, he invites his best friend, Jimmy Fargo, on the vacation with him, a privilege gifted to compensate for having to spend it alongside Sheila, but is irritated when Jimmy starts to spend more time with her than with him out of sympathy for her own good friend's (Mouse, who was introduced in Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great) inability to join her on the vacation too, as she has the chicken pox.

Jimmy's father, Frank, a celebrated painter, also receives inspiration after the Hatchers' baby daughter, Tootsie, toddles across a canvas with blue paint smeared on her feet, commencing a series of paintings appropriately entitled "Baby Feet".

[1] Publishers Weekly called it a "fast-pitched, funny novel" and praised its "numerous diverting scenes".

[2] A television film based on the book premiered on ABC on January 7, 1995, in the United States, starring Jake Richardson, Florence Henderson, Eve Plumb, Shirley Knight, Alex Karras, Luke Tarsitano, and Darren McGavin.