At Christmastime, Joseph Harris, a renowned but troubled writer, travels to a small Michigan town to produce his latest play. A young, aspiring writer greets the cynical New Yorker by challenging his literary idol to become the icon he had hoped for. Harris desires neither Michigan nor its small-town theater, nor does he wish to be the young man's hero. Harris immediately makes plans to return to New York on the next available train. Desperate and trying to keep him in town, the young man must confront his idol and investigate the tangled interplay between youth's dreams and maturity's wisdom.