At the heart of the novel are two of Mary Higgins Clark's most loved characters: Alvirah, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, and her husband, Willy, who are caught up in a Christmas mystery that calls on all of their skills and experience. Willy has been looking forward to playing Santa at the after-school centre recently set up to care for the children of working parents on New York's Upper West Side, and Alvirah has been busy with rehearsals for the Christmas pageant. But suddenly a shadow falls upon the Christmas cheer. The centre is threatened with closure, a substitute promised for the play is mysteriously withdrawn, a valuable chalice is stolen from a neighborhood church, and a desperate young woman turns up, begging for Alvirah's help in finding the baby she abandoned seven years earlier. In a final blow, the young girl who is to play Mary in the Christmas pageant disappears... A missing child. A stolen chalice. A desperate mother. Can Alvirah reach the truth in time for Christmas?
