The Christmas Queens of North Pole, Vermont, Trish and Diana, have won the Best Holiday House decorating competition every year for the past nine years. But days before Christmas, a friendship-ending argument sparks a town-wide feud and draws the attention of a national magazine writer hoping to make a name for herself with her scintillating expose.

After Molly dies, her husband and three young daughters struggle to face their first Christmas without her. But eight-year-old Emily is convinced her mother will come and visit her at Christmas.