Cree matriarch Aline Spears survives a childhood in Canada’s residential school system to continue her family’s generational fight in the face of systemic starvation, racism, and sexual abuse. She uses her uncanny ability to understand and translate codes into working for a special division of the Canadian Air Force as a Cree code talker in World War II. The story unfolds over 100 years with a cumulative force that propels us into the future.

On the verge of a massive deadline, a cynical workaholic is zapped by faulty Christmas lights while stranded in a small Colorado town and finds herself cast as the lead in an over-the-top Hallmark-style holiday movie. Now she must wrap, bake, and carol herself into some Christmas cheer to break the curse and make her way back ho-ho-home.