Detective Vaughn Riegler is facing his first Christmas since Lydia, his wife of twenty-five years, died in a tragic accident. Zenny Stoughton, a vagrant brought in for assaulting Crazy Mary, a local beggar woman.

At the behest of his commanding officer, Vaughn attends a Christmas Eve meeting run by Cal Willis, a counselor who won't take no for an answer. What Cal has in store is no traditional group session. Vaughn finds himself between dimensions at a reunion of the living and the dead. He listens to admissions of guilt and negligence from beyond the grave and finds the chilling truth behind Zenny's interaction with Mary.

But the night of redemption is only beginning. Vaughn comes to understand that salvation is a two-way street. Though he feels Lydia owes him no apology, he realizes he may owe one to her—one that will save him from his self-consuming remorse. Christmas is the light of promise, and Lydia's love is a promise kept.