[1] The narrator, Stewart Meade (nicknamed "Stew Meat"), meets a strange man named Thaddeus Blinn in a carnival tent and notices something unusual about him.

Rowena wishes that Henry Piper, a traveling salesman she is infatuated with, but only sees two times a year, will "set roots down in Coven Tree and never leave again!"

Her wish is fulfilled word-for-word: his feet become literally rooted to the ground, and he gradually transforms into a sycamore tree.

Polly no longer says mean things about other people and thus never croaks again; Henry is restored to human form, but Rowena forgets him and dates Sam instead; Adam travels around the world to dowse.

and "Brittain's knack for old-fashioned, funny-scary storytelling makes this another playfully atmospheric tale of strange doings in yesterday's New England.