Brenda Sheffield at age 46 is as excited as a young 20-year-old thinking of her upcoming wedding. Christmas Eve will present two weddings, since her best friend Phyllis Lindsey will participate in a double wedding with her. It isn’t until Phyllis tells Brenda of her only wish for a wedding gift that Brenda finds herself involved in a crime that happened five years ago.

Phyllis’ brother Patrick disappeared one hot July day, soon after he began working in Edward Graham’s law office. According to Phyllis, Patrick loved his job and though he had a restless past, he would never just leave town without telling his sister. The more Phyllis talks, the sooner Brenda vows to find out what happened to Patrick.

She enlists the help of her fiance Detective Mac Rivers, who tells her it is the one cold case he hopes to one day solve. When Phyllis’ fiancé William Pendleton hands boxes of decorations that once belonged to his deceased wife to Brenda to use at the bed and breakfast.

She and her father Tim Sheffield go to her apartment in Sheffield Bed and Breakfast and begin to go through the boxes. They are astonished to find letters that appear threatening from the local mailman Pete Graham to Lady Pendleton. The more they delve into the boxes, the more convinced they are that people they once felt upright were not who they pretended to be. That is, unless Lady Pendleton’s husband is involved.

Brenda must find the answer before her good friend and housekeeper at the bed and breakfast marries the wrong man. She knows Patrick won a rare lawsuit against Lady Pendleton and thinks something around that issue caused him to simply disappear without a trace.

Could it be that the mailman and boyfriend to Phyllis’ daughter Molly be involved? There are other suspects that come to mind as Brenda delves deeper into the mystery. The day she finds footprints in fresh snow becomes the turning point for her. Is Patrick Lindsey dead or alive? She hopes to find him knowing, if alive, he will be able to tell what happened. She promises to solve it before Christmas Eve when she will marry Detective Mac Rivers.