For his 69th birthday in 1993, Raymond Foster, a widower and retired high school English teacher, receives a present of an 18-day escorted tour of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland from his four children. He joins 24 others, a newlywed couple from Maine, a young man whose presence is connected to a bet, four retired women in their early 60s from Minneapolis (three widows and one never married), three widows in their early 70s from Florida (originally...