As Christmas approaches, Laura Fleming wants only to curl up in her Boston apartment with her English Professor husband Richard as they happily await the birth of their first child. But when her cousin Vasti calls wanting Richard to direct a production of Dickens' A Christmas Carol Laura finds herself packing for a trip to Byerly, where surprises await. The responsibility of bringing a play to life transforms her mild-mannered hubby into a screaming backstage tyrant; the usually savvy Vasti has cast furniture salesman Seth Murdstone as Scrooge - and while practising his lines one night on the darkened stage, Seth is brutally murdered. With a killer in the wings, it's up to Laura to catch him before he decides to bring down the final curtain.