Mary Pekaruk's mother is at death's door so she boards a transatlantic flight home but arrives too late. A magpie appears as Mary steps into the role of matriarch. Is it the soul of her mother guiding her? As the family grieves and plans the funeral Mary begs her boyfriend Todd in London to show, but he doesn’t. Home for Christmas, Joe, a widowed pro-hockey player and his son deliver a package from his mother. As Mary fills her mother’s bakery orders, tends to the farm, and revisits her youth and Ukrainian customs her attraction to Joe grows. When Joe leaves, she is torn and confused about her life’s direction. She returns to London where she finds Todd with another woman and high tails it back to Canada to reopen her mother's bakery and a law office. Joe and Luke arrive at the opening with news that Joe has taken a nearby coaching job. A few months later, Mary and Joe marry. The next Christmas Eve Mary hosts dinner for the family who are gathered and the magpie, satisfied, flies away.