Plot Synopsis

Christmas is a busy time of year for the residents of Green River, Connecticut particularly for Grace Long, whose grandparents organized the town's first Christmas Eve parade 50 years ago. The holiday season became Green River's economic engine, as the Long family led the efforts to make every year bigger and better. After her parents died when she 18, Grace abandoned her plans for art school to stay in Green River and tend to the family legacy, which includes a year-round holiday store as well as the signature parade. With Grace in charge, the parade and other Christmas festivities blend old-fashioned pleasures with clever modern touches; there's the town's famed Santa, aka Tom White and his sleigh. This year a national morning show has chosen Green River as the site of its Christmas Eve day program, potentially adding millions to the audience for the parade's golden anniversary. A week before the parade, Santa/Tom slips on a patch of ice and ends up unable to fulfill his Santa duties. Grace has precious little time to find a substitute who can be the camera-ready Santa the television producer needs. The one person who is remotely capable of filling Tom's Santa boots happens to be the one person who has consistently rejected the idea: his son, Ben a writer who lives in Boston. With her hometown's reputation and economic future at stake, it's up to Grace to get the reluctant Ben back to Green River and into that Santa suit. She heads for Boston to make her case, but Ben is no pushover, having long resisted pressure from his father to take on the family profession. As the December 24th parade draws near, Grace and Ben discover a truly unexpected and wonderful Christmas gift...love.