In the year before they become the orphans known as the Boxcar children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden live with their parents at Fair Meadow Farm, where, although times are hard, they take in a family who has been stranded in their car during a blizzard.
While spending Christmas at their grandparents' farm, Lily becomes convinced that her younger brother Liam is right about White Cow being lonely and helps him seek a companion for her, leaving little time for Christmas preparations or reading.
Teddy, a dog, leads siblings Nickel and Flora through a terrible snowstorm to shelter in a cabin, where he is flooded with memories of his deceased owner, the poet Sylvan.