All the Fairchilds are spending the Christmas holidays on idyllic Sanpere Island. While the Reverend Thomas Fairchild recuperates from surgery, his caterer wife, Faith, rejoices in the rare family-time together. But Faith's high spirits are dampened when she discovers the body of a young woman in an antique sleigh in front of the Historical Society. The victim, a teenage drug addict, was beloved by many—and her untimely death rocks the tight-knit island community.Meanwhile, local spinster Mary Bethany finds a newborn baby boy in her barn on Christmas Eve, along with a note left in the basket and an alarming amount of cash. As Faith tries to locate the child's mother, she realizes his abandonment may be connected to the dead teen's last days—and that, like death and life on Sanpere, evil and redemptive goodness are also intertwined.