Delilah "Spunky" Spunk is invited to conduct a genome study in a small North Carolina town to discover if there is a genetic influence on one's desire to remain in a community. She unexpectedly finds herself in the cross hairs of a feud between rival Christmas pageants, and along the way discovers she is falling in love.

Devastated by the loss of her older brother, Ernie, just before Christmas in 1938, gifted four-year-old artist Suzanna retains a painting she had intended to give him as a Christmas gift, a work considered by her descendants to be her finest in spite of her fame years later.