This collection of fifteen short stories centers on the stresses and strains of contemporary personal and family relationships for characters living in England, Ireland, Australia, the United States.

While Maeve Binchy touches on the cultural differences among the countries, her central concern is the lacerating effect Christmas season can have on people everywhere.

Binchy examines the effect of holiday stress in a variety of contemporary social arrangements. Four of the stories deal with traditional family structures and depict familiar holiday situations. In "A Hundred Milligrams," a couple spends Christmas with a mother who is critical of their lifestyle and the lack of a traditional code in their relationship. Beneath the lens of her microscope, they develop their own code. In "The Best Inn in Town," two grandmothers who despise each other make a ritual holiday visit to their progeny. While the son and daughter squirm, the...