LUCAS PROUTY, muddling through his late thirties, is tired of forecasting weather in small-town Bentleyville, on the coast of North Carolina. Newly divorced, Prouty has only one bright spot in his life: Kiki, a bartender at a local strip club who doesn't exactly return his affections. But a series of unlikely events drives Prouty into the spotlight: he becomes the lone meteorologist covering a monstrous hurricane. Broadcast from the beachfront, Prouty's coverage of the storm's arrival is carried by affiliates across the country. Viewers watch in astonishment as Prouty is washed violently away and then found by rescue workers nine days later in the basement of a razed building. As Prouty tries to cope with his sudden celebrity--a network job, paparazzi, a movie deal--his relationship with Kiki grows into an unexpected romance. And now he must deal with a new set of problems, personal "and professional.