America is in the midst of the Great Depression, and the Kamp family is struggling to get by, especially since Mrs. Kamp’s untimely death nearly a year ago. The older children do their best to take care of the family, but it’s the younger children—Hopalong Cassidy fan Norman and straight-talking little Ruthie—who struggle most. Now, with their mother gone and their father overwhelmed by doctor bills from young Norman’s battle with polio, the Kamp siblings fully expect a Christmas without presents. But when William scrapes together a dollar in coins to use for Christmas gifts, everything begins to change.

An attorney returns to his small home town in Alaska and quickly rocks the boat by getting an injunction against the nativity display tradition and attacking Christmas.

Faith, a recent divorcee, enters a dance contest to save her dance studio, where she meets Jimmy and starts rediscovering her faith and dreams.