CHRISSIE, a young London office manager who recently split up with her boyfriend, finds her life taking a completely new course on Christmas Eve. She is first mugged, abducted and dumped in the countryside by A SANTA CLAUS and then 'rescued' by serial killer JOE, an otherwise cheerful but moody carpenter who keeps his son RICK and wife LOUISE virtual prisoners at a remote house. Joe finds Chrissie asleep in a freezing hovel when he wants to hide the corpse of his victim KATIE. Chrissie spends Christmas with the family. She sleeps in Katie's room and receives the present that was intended for Katie. Chrissie finds herself attracted to the son Rick, who plays guitar and adores her. Joe vows that he will take Chrissie to the nearby village but he postpones under the pretext of freezing weather conditions. She ends up sleeping with Rick after one of Joe's unpredictable moods. She can escape back to her London life and mother, DOREEN. The police investigation concentrates on tracking down the nasty Santa Claus. Short after, she finds out she's pregnant from Rick's child. She only tells her friend CHARLENE and not her family. Chrissie persuades Rick to leave his disfunctional family: the baby, PHOEBE, is born and for a while they find happiness. But it is short lived. Joe finds out where they live and he abducts the baby. When they return to the house Rick doesn't want to leave anymore. She can't reason anymore with Rick when be becomes more and more influenced by his family. Chrissie finds out that a girl is reported missing and shadows Joe. She finds out about his bizarre rituals and that he increases the amount of sleep-inducing powder to keep all sedate. That could be lethal for the baby. On Christmas day, a year after she arrived in the house, she poisons the whole family with that powder, before having access to the keys for escaping with her baby. A story about utterly dysfunctional family myths, values and crime.
