Klarinda Snow owns the Mistletoe Manor Inn just outside of Windy Pines, Idaho.  She bought it in her late thirties hoping for a calm but fun life that included entertaining small groups of people.  She has a fabulous Chef and a great assistant that works for her. Life isn’t perfect though; the toilet in the purple room is acting up and the snow is coming down fast, so the task of keeping the drive cleared is now an hourly event and then there is the lack of a Christmas tree; not to mention that it feels a little weird that for the first time since she bought the place they are booked solid for one night.  Yep, every room in the hotel is booked for only one night.

As the guests start arriving, it becomes apparent that someone invited all of these guests and told them it was a free vacation.  Then the town delivery service brings Klarinda a brown envelope with 10 thousand dollars in it and a note that mentions it should cover the cost.  As the evening goes on, the three employees discover that all the guests, except one, know each other and even attended the same boarding school.

As the night goes on, murder occurs, part of the inn is destroyed and the police make mistake after mistake.  In their defense, it is a small town where crime never happens and there is a blizzard that shuts down the roads so they are awfully busy rescuing stranded people.  It is a whirlwind of events for 36 hours as Klarinda helps solve the murder and provide some sense of normalcy in the situation.