Three total strangers - an escaped convict, an abused woman running from the men in her past, and a fiercely independent, homeless orphan with a great deal of baggage - agree to travel together as a family for one day to elude authorities. But Christmas Day 1861, finds them huddled together and snowbound in an abandoned shack at the end of the line in the mountains of Western Virginia, instead of a city with lots of room to get lost in the crowd as expected. When they are discovered by a well-meaning neighbor, their temporary "family" instantly becomes a very visible part of a rural Christian community. Can the convict, who wants only his freedom, the lady, who wants nothing to do with men, marriage, or church, and the headstrong orphan who has made it this far without adults ordering her around, manage to behave until spring thaw, in a manner that will convince their neighbors they are truly a family? Will they be recognized as the impostors they are? Or will love make all the difference?