Fairbrook is a town tailor-made for Christmas, with beautiful old houses dotting quaintly named streets like Sugar Plum Lane and Nutcracker Court. But not everyone is eager for the holidays to arrive. Cash-strapped single mom Carly Westbrook worries about providing a merry Christmas for her boys. It doesn't help that they've been having run-ins with neighbor Max Tolliver, an aspiring novelist stricken with writer's block. Then there's Grant Barrows, a formerly wealthy businessman whose heart seems to have shrunk along with his bank balance. Some folks are still determined to make the season sparkle. Like The Diamond Lils, a ladies group who meet weekly to play poker and socialize. This year, they're looking to do some good deeds-and wealthy widow Lynette thinks that a little matchmaking between Grant and Carly would be a perfect place to start. Yet Christmas is a season for surprises. And sometimes, the gifts we never expected turn out to be the most precious of all . . .