As with so many things in Kitty Appleby's life, falling in love with Sandcastle Cottage, on a bitterly cold day was a monumental mistake. She hadn't even needed to rent a cottage, or move to the seaside village of Firefly Common. Kitty had a home and a boyfriend and a job and a life in lively noisy bustling Reading.

 Or so she thought...

But three weeks before Christmas, with the snow forecast to be thundering in from Siberia, Kitty suddenly had none of these things.

Sandcastle Cottage was her only salvation. And as Kitty and her increasing band of waifs and strays moved dejectedly into the house in Firefly Common, she simply hoped someone had remembered to cancel Christmas...