 Instead it focuses on a set of other characters, including Snufkin, who come to live at Moominhouse during the onset of winter whilst its inhabitants are away, and the various interactions which they have with each other.Like "Moominpappa at Sea", the work is more somber in tone than previous books in the series, and it has been suggested that this is a direct result of the death of Jansson's mother, Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, during the year that it was written.Because of this, it has been described as being a "textbook on letting go, being a mature orphan, existing spiritually alone" and features a young orphan looking for a mother as one of its primary characters.