Ray Seymour receives frightening news from his doctor on Christmas Eve. He goes home, feeling sad and angry, to confront the tense atmosphere of his home. His wife, eight-year-old daughter, and fifteen-year-old son remain separate, not cohering into a family. Ray resolves to make things better in whatever time he has left. Unfortunately, his time has run out. Ray dies that evening.
Ray returns to life to find he's been given time to try to reconcile his family. He sets out to make them love him so much they'll feel terrible when he's gone.
Ray still has to deal with his next-door neighbor, who knows about his time-travelling, his sarcastic sister, hostile ex-wife, and childish daughter. There's too much to fix and not enough time. And what about that homeless man near the mall who keeps turning up?
Holiday miracles are a lot of work.
