This is a work of fiction inspired by what people experienced. During the Second World War, American men are away fighting, and horrendous battle casualties are reported every day. The war years are stressful and depressing for everyone as the cruel fighting continues on and on. The Maxwell family in Detroit, Michigan, experience a Christmas of both excitement and tragedy. They hope for a respite from the war and extend invitations to two Royal Air Force navigators training in nearby Ontario, Canada, to join them for Christmas in 1943. The young Englishmen are polite and appreciative, and they accept with enthusiasm. All is well until one of them soon begins a torrid love affair with the Maxwells' restless married sister-in-law. Things go from bad to worse when more serious trouble follows. The Englishmen return to fighting the war in Europe, leaving memories and heartbreak behind. What follows is startling as the sorrow of a doomed wartime romance lingers for lifetimes afterward. The lives of everyone involved are forever changed in many ways in each changing place.