It's Christmas Eve and Detective Alex Cross is called away from his family to resolve a horrific hostage situation that is spiraling out of control.

"Facing foreclosure on her California home, widowed Kylie Wayne is grateful to accept her aging aunt Muriel's offer to come back to small-town Branding Iron, Texas, and help out on the ranch. But when an early storm rolls in, Kylie's dream of a perfect Christmas for her kids is blown away with the unexpected snow. Comfort and joy seem unlikely, unless a certain long, tall Texan with a bad boy's charm can rope some holiday cheer ..."--Jacket.

A twenty-one-year-old woman searches for clues to her past while struggling with vague memories of being sent away by her parents at the age of seven, a younger sister, and a Christmas ornament inscribed with the word, "Noel."

Christmas has never brought out the best in the MacDougal family. Still, year after year, they gather together in the Blue Ridge Mountains to try to make the season merry and bright. But this year is an especially strained one, between Shayne's impending divorce, Morwenna's slavish devotion to work, and Bobbie's reluctance to face what life has to offer. Then, in the midst of a snowy sibling shouting match, a mysterious stranger appears.

Lizzie McKettrick is homeward bound with her fiancé, Whitley Carson, when their train is derailed, leaving passengers stranded on Christmas Eve. While Whitley is concerned only with himself, a handsome doctor enlists Lizzie's help treating injured passengers. Soon Lizzie realizes that Christmas truly is a season of miracles--and love.

Camille, Lady Lydingham, wants an official engagement to a handsome, dashing prince for Christmas, but her plans go awry when she organizes a party for him to meet her unconventional relatives--and a former love interest also shows up.

Mattie Riehl was hoping to give her husband, Sol, the Christmas gift they both longed for - news of a baby on the way. Instead, the holidays bring an acute awareness to Mattie that her dream of a big Amish family isn't likely to become a reality. Will those empty chairs at the table ever be filled? Then a winter storm raging outside blows a young woman and her husband into the Riehl home on Christmas Eve. Do miracles still happen at Christmastime?...

Sheriff Ben Marsden of Branding Iron, Texas has no plans to attend the annual Christmas Ball until a pretty newcomer comes to town and gets involved in the planning. Jessica Ramsey's relatives seem to be in jail more than out, and Ben tells himself that's why he needs to keep an eye on her. As Jessica moves ahead to open a bed-and-breakfast with her mother, the future starts looking merry and bright.

Archangel Gabriel and his three mischievous Prayer Ambassadors--Shirley, Goodness and Mercy--lend their celestial aid to three needy Christmas cases. Harry Alderwood, 86, prays that his increasingly forgetful wife, Rosalie, will agree to move into assisted living before he dies. Meanwhile, nine-year-old Carter Jackson begs God for a dog, even though his mother and father tell him that they can't afford to keep a pet, while Beth Fischer's mother prays...

Unable to sleep on Christmas Eve, four children creep downstairs to see the tree, their stockings, their wrapped gifts, and to hear the singing of the carolers.