Mary is a naÏve twenty year old in 1945 when her high school sweetheart, Jack, returns to their small Indiana steel town wounded from World War II and makes her his bride. While Jack struggles to find his place in the world, Mary begins her own journey of self-discovery. As the years and letters unfold, Mary and Jack have five children, including their first-born son, Junior who is not "right," an issue that contributes to the turmoil in their marriage and impacts their lives in unforeseen ways. Mary's Christmas letters track her children from toddling to adulthood, while also commenting on her marriage, her friendships, and the world around her-- advances in technology, the dawn of the nuclear age, the Cuban Missile Crisis, The Cold War, Vietnam, Woodstock, and more. Through disappointments, triumphs, dark moments of doubt and suspicion, loss of loved ones, and the lessons learned from hard experience, Mary's Christmas letters are a constant in an uncertain world. A part of the ritual of Christmas, these letters are a touchstone from which Mary takes strength and comfort.