from a wealthy Irish American family in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. She is wary of having relationships with men because all five of her former boyfriends died in bizarre accidents while in the prime of life. However, she falls for Mike Monroe (Anthony Edwards), a lawyer who is hyper-allergic to many man-made substances; in a reversal of her prior track record, he recovers completely and leaves. An ardent feminist, Maggie has a strong love-hate relationship with Fleischman, including the occasional sexual episode. Shelly Marie Tambo Vincoeur Shelly (Cynthia Geary) is a young beauty pageant winner, Miss Northwest Passage, with a somewhat 'surfer dude' shallow-but-sweet personality, who comes from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She is brought to Cicely by Maurice, who had hoped to marry her. Shortly after her arrival, she met and fell in love with the much older (by 44 years) Holling Vincoeur. Shelly nearly becomes a bigamist when she almost marries Holling before divorcing minor league hockey player Wayne Jones (Brandon Douglas), whom she had married solely to get him to stop proposing. Holling Gustav Vincoeur Holling (John Cullum) is a sexagenarian hunter and owner of The Brick bar and restaurant, where he lives upstairs with Shelly. Born in Québec (or the Yukon; both are mentioned in different seasons) and later becoming a naturalized US citizen, he had been best friends with Maurice until they had a falling out over Shelly. His father and grandfather both lived to be over 100 years old, spending most of their lives as widowers despite marrying much younger women; fearing the same bitter fate, Holling had sworn off love until Shelly appeared. He claims to be a direct descendant of King Louis XIV of France and attempts to distance himself as much as possible from his despotic ancestors, all despicable people. After 23 years as unelected mayor of Cicely, he loses that post to Edna Hancock, who runs against him because of a grudge, in the town's very first election in 1992. Ed (Darren E. Burrows) is a mild-mannered, amiably tactless half-Native Alaskan who was abandoned as a young child and raised by the local Tlingits. He works for Maurice and later part-time at Ruth-Anne's general store. A film buff and would-be director, he is also a shaman-in-training and is occasionally visited by his invisible spirit guide, One-Who-Waits, and by his personal demon, a dwarf who embodies Ed's low self-esteem. Ed writes, directs, and produces