"If the friends and enemies of Charles Tobias Perlman could agree on one thing, it was this--you never bet against Charlie the Pearl.
Ever.
And if his enemies numbered higher than his friends, well, Charlie just put it down to the life he had lived. A life that did not appear, at that particular moment, as if it would be lived much longer."
Charlie the Pearl is an itinerant gambler and con-man who is very good at his game. On the road since the age of fifteen, Charlie attributes his success in part to a careful study of human nature and in part to a special talent which he alone possesses: Charlie can literally see luck.
Unfortunately, Charlie's successes on the road are not mirrored in his home life, and he has never managed to stick around long enough to be a good husband to his wife Mary or a good father to their daughter Brighid. When Mary dies, and Charlie finds Brighid living in a group home for wards of the province, guilt over past failings, and his love for the one good thing he has created with his life, prompt Charlie to concoct a plan to provide for his daughter in the only way he knows how: He'll set up a big score. Big enough to provide Brighid with a nest egg to get her through university and get herself set up with a good life.
As Charlie and Brighid chase luck through the streets of southern Ontario, Charlie puts his plan into action. Financial success seems assured to the Pearl -- but can he learn to give his daughter what she really wants from him before it's too late?
The premise of Going Down to Lucky Town is Charlie's use of his special understanding of luck to build a treasure chest for Brighid, but the heart of this story lies in the relationship between father and daughter, as Brighid struggles to understand the father she hardly knows, and Charlie struggles to overcome his own orphaned past and find his better nature in learning the true meaning of fatherhood.