It's Christmastime. Snow covers the ground. Cardinals fly about Warwickshire. And Hazel is not giving up. Her mother has passed, her elder brother is missing, and she wants no part of her father's plans. He is much too angry for her to agree.

Impulsive by nature with an aptitude for mischief, Hazel Ansbro finds herself in a predicament when her father, the local vicar, decides to try his hand at finding her another suitor. This would be his seventh attempt to do so.

After finding a letter on his desk addressed to a family on the other side of town, she knows his plan: to send her off to learn proper manners. If it was up to her, she would never leave, especially with her younger brothers still around.

Instead, she makes her own plan and begins her tirade of mischievous acts. It all begins with a dumped inkwell, hiding in a cabinet, and spying on a certain bookshop keeper.

Will the dropping temperatures, her horse, a bookshop keeper, and holiday spirit calm her? Or will her father succeed?

The question is answered. But how? A lavender rose, sermons, billiards, lemon tea, a community carol, and a certain gazebo may be the key to unlocking the betrayal, the sadness, and the fear lingering in her heart.

Perhaps.