Whether it's a snowy nude sprint down Main Street, the mysterious appearance of a long-lost relative, or the improbable death of yet another of Maggie's boyfriends, life's never dull in the remote hamlet of Cicely, Alaska. Colourful characters and quirky plots propelled Northern Exposure into the hearts of millions of viewers, earning the CBS "dramedy" series seven Emmy awards.

Rob Morrow stars as Dr. Joel Fleischman, an urban New York yuppie who reluctantly consents to four years of rural servitude after Alaska pays his medical-school tuition. Joel's fish-out-of-water adventures drive the show, but it's the quirky ensemble of characters that keeps the series consistently entertaining.

Just some of the intriguing characters from the town of 215 people are Chris, a morning radio host/philosopher (John Corbett), Holling, the big game hunting bartender (John Cullum), Maurice, the burly ex-astronaut town patriarch (Barry Corbin), Ed, the mild-mannered, amiably tactless film buff (Darren E. Burrows), and Maggie, the beautiful pilot (Janine Turner).

The town develops its own offbeat personality as Northern Exposure provides a utopian escape --a place where life is interesting but never dangerous, the mystical becomes real, and nobody's burdened with a mundane 9-to-6 desk job. Cicely is a delightful place to visit, even if it's only for an hour at a time.