It's the first day of December, snow is in the air and Gracie Singleton Saylor is shopping for a Christmas tree, when she runs smack into Merett Bradmoore, her High School hero and his seven-year-old daughter. Seeing he's not the happy-go-lucky guy he used to be, she's determined to restore the gift of optimism he gave her fifteen years ago. But can she return his hope without losing her own?Enter the zoning board, an old enemy and the personal problems of Gracie's two sister, Hope and Faith. Mix in a mischievous cat named Spook, a huge furry mutt named Dumbell, and a spirit named Mirabelle who's looking for her lost love, and you wonder ? can holiday magic triumph?