When Mia, a talented Boston department store window designer, travels to her family's Connecticut town to help her sister design the decor for its annual Snowflake Festival Christmas Eve dance, she finds herself at odds with--and later attracted to--the stubborn but kindly Adam, whose grandparents founded the beloved festival 60 years ago.

Michael (or Fresh as he's well known) is a 12-year-old drug pusher who lives in a crowded housing project with his cousins and aunt. His father has become a street bum, but still meets with Fresh on occasion to play chess. Fresh is rather quiet in a crazy world. Fresh's sister is a junkie who sleeps with the dealers who Fresh sells for. As the story progresses Fresh realizes that he doesn't want to sell drugs anymore, he wants out.