When Elfrida Phipps abandons London for a quaint country village, she settles in quickly. She has a tiny cottage, her faithful dog Horace, and the friendship of good neighbors, Oscar, Gloria and their little girl. Perhaps, at last, she can exorcise the pain of the past and find peace.But it is not to be.Tragedy upsets Elfrida's newfound tranquility and she takes refuge in a rambling house in the north of Scotland called Corrydale. Almost like a magnet, Corrydale attracts various waifs and strays, each of them escaping difficult personal pasts. As the holidays approach and the weather turns foul, it seems a perfect recipe for disaster.But somehow the group proves to be greater than the sum of its ill-suited parts, and as the solstice passes and Christmas approaches, the healing power of love on even the most troubled human spirit begins to work its magic.