The tale of two families' tragic struggle for survival after the collapse of civilization.

John Dale has everything. Money, notoriety, the biggest house in town. But what he really wants is a good, old-fashioned Christmas. With no family in town, John turns to the local "Rent-All" store and owner Anne Weston. Anne's store is struggling, and in an attempt to save the shop, she takes on this unusual order from this unusual man. She goes about trying to fill the order, but ends up filling a need much greater.

When his PI brother-in-law goes missing, soft-boiled sleuth Perry "Pears" Matthews is put on the case by his very pregnant sister and now will have to fill the gumshoes he never thought he had.