1932 – Illinois
It is December of 1932, just one year after the Worthams and the Hammonds lost Wilametta Hammond and Emma Graham in one terrible night. The Christmas spirit seems largely absent again this year. George Hammond has disappeared, and Julia Wortham’s house is filled to overflowing with the Hammond children, several of whom are coming down with a mysterious illness. As Christmas nears, the children’s homemade nativity scene takes on a life of its own, bringing comfort in the midst of uncertainty and hard times.