It was 1929, on an ordinary winter's eve, with no hint of miracles in the slate skies over the rural town of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. But misty rings circling the sun and a biting wind announced the coming of a big snow and promised the children a Christmas blanket of white. At six o'clock the snow began to fall. Large white flakes that obliterated distance and shut every home into its own isolated yard. December's crystals hung from every eave, and it was very cold.

Mary Withers, a poor young widow with a sick child named Alexis, is in desperate need of asthma medication for her daughter. The paralyzing storm makes travel nearly impossible, and the doctor's only hope is that Erick Mueller, son of the town's coal vendor, can make it through the deep snow to Mary's house with the coal truck.

It was Erick's unusual kindness that had given Mary the extra coal to heat her house in the storm. Will the young college professor also find a way to help save Alexis's life?