Charlie "C.D." Bales, the fire chief of a small ski town is an intelligent, humorous, charismatic, athletic and skilled man. Regardless, he is rather sensitive about his abnormally large nose, which many in town have learned not to talk about; he cannot have it surgically altered due to a dangerous allergy to anesthetics. Still, he is close to many residents, especially his god-sister, Dixie, who owns the town diner and several rental homes. When the beautiful Roxanne Kowalski, a graduate student in astronomy, arrives to search for a new comet during the summer, he, along with many other men in town, becomes immediately attracted to her. Roxanne adores C.D. as a friend, preferring instead Chris McConnell, a fresh in town handsome but dim-witted fireman, here to train the local, but quite incompetent, firefighters.