Marlena Joyce

Maxine Dorfman has it all - sagging jowls, chubby elbows, sexual batteries that need repair, and frustrating fantasies about Burt Lancaster and her dentist, Dr. Ronald Kertler. But, there are two things she does not have: the notorious, hooked Kleinkopf nose that runs in her family, and a faithful husband. Mel Dorfman, her unemployed CPA husband dumps her for an older woman -- a 65 year-old woman. Maxine is left on ground zero in denial, depressed, and addicted to macadamia nuts. Hope arrives in the person of Connie Piccini, her best friend, who encourages a reluctant Maxine to sign up for EARTH TREK, a singles, "get a life" weeklong fitness adventure in the Catskill Mountains of NY State. Three hikes, two hot romances, and one environmental crisis later, transform our heroine from a fearful, depressed victim into a self-empowered woman with passion, power, and purpose.