Will Penny, an aging cowpoke, takes a job on a ranch which requires him to ride the line of the property looking for trespassers or, worse, squatters. He finds that his cabin in the high mountains has been appropriated by a woman whose guide to Oregon has deserted her and her son. Too ashamed to kick mother and child out just as the bitter winter of the mountains sets in, he agrees to share the cabin until the spring thaw. But it isn't just the snow that slowly thaws; the lonely man and woman soon forget their mutual hostility and start developing a deep love for one another.

故事讲述了一位老练的民主党战略家(卡瑞尔饰)在威斯康星州的一座右翼小镇，帮助一位退休的老将竞选市长。

小女孩杰茜自幼丧母，和父亲、哥哥一起生活，父亲约翰不苟言笑脾气暴躁，没有时间和孩子沟通，而杰茜相信童话，相信圣诞老人真的存在。在一次偶然中杰茜救下一头受伤的驯鹿并坚信它属于圣诞老人，于是杰茜悄悄把驯鹿藏在家中为它疗伤并策划在圣诞前夜将它送回圣诞老人身边，可孩子天真的想象并不被大人所理解，经历了一系列矛盾和冲突后杰茜与父亲终于敞开心扉理解了彼此，而童真的心灵也终于见证了梦幻般的奇迹发生。

一名前特种部队特工在记者采访独裁者时接受了一份为她提供安全保障的工作，但当采访过程中爆发军事政变时，他们被迫逃到丛林中。