Alfred Viola

A self-absorbed young biologist takes on a six-month research post in Antarctica to study a penguin colony. Alone in Shackleton’s abandoned hut, with only radio contact and letters to his distant girlfriend, he endures the harsh winter and gradually forms a bond with the penguins—discovering resilience, humility, and a new sense of purpose.

The story, set in the twenty-second century, follows the adventures of the McCallister family, owners of McCallister's Midway Inn, a hotel-restaurant-saloon on an orbiting way station somewhere between Earth and Pluto.