The Thomsons - parents Thomas and Francie, and children Willa, Arthur, Beatrice (nicknamed Booky) and Jakey - are a loving working class family living in Depression era Toronto. In the lead up to Christmas, Thomas loses his job as a harness maker for the Eaton's company as the company is moving into the motorized age in an effort to keep up with the times; Eaton's is facing as challenging a time as any business during the Depression. Thomas' job prospects in this changing time are not good. Ironically, Eaton's has a Christmas Fund where each child in the city whose father is not working is eligible for a Christmas gift from the company. Because of the Thomson's new situation, Booky risks losing her best friend Laura Westover, whose snobbish and social climbing mother wants her daughter to associate with a higher class of friend. By happenstance, Booky befriends Mr...

Takes place in 1995, the year of the second referendum on the separation of Quebec. In the dead of winter, a serial killer is on the loose in the small Montreal neighborhood of Notre Dame de Grace. The tenants of an old apartment house must figure out who they can trust and who they can't.