A man receives the best Christmas present he could ask for: the chance to rewrite the past.

Jason Chercher is not doing well in love or life. Just two weeks after his wife leaves him, he receives a phone call that his estranged mother has passed away, days before Christmas - leaving her home and all her belongings to him. Frankly, he would like to see everything just burned. But curiosity about his past and anxiety about his future fuels him to make the drive from Salt Lake City to her home in Medford, Oregon. Maybe cleaning out her house will be slightly less depressing than spending the holidays alone, watching reruns of Christmas classics.

While going through her things, he comes upon her diary and the record of his childhood. He learns that his mother suffered from severe depression and that during that difficult time, he was taken care of by a young, unwed mother who was living with his family. The only clue he has to the woman's identity is her name: Noel, which is an eerily fitting discovery on Christmas Eve. As Jason reads the diary, he begins to uncover the source of his pain in relationships and understands that what he believed to be the truth of his past was actually a lie. That's when he begins a journey to find Noel, wondering if she might hold the truth he needs to bring him peace and love.