Marty and Shiloh fight to preserve the spirit of Christmas in the wake of a wildfire and a divisive new preacher in the fourth book in the series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor that began with the Newbery Medal?winning perennial bestseller Shiloh.

It's been a year since Marty Preston rescued Shiloh from Judd Travers and his formerly cruel ways, and since then, the boy and the dog have been inseparable. Anywhere Marty goes, the beagle is at his side, and Marty couldn't be happier about it. And Judd has been working to improve his reputation.

But just as townsfolk grow more accepting of him, someone sets fire to the woods. Doubt, blame, and anger spread faster than the flames?fanned by the new minister, who seems fonder of hail and brimstone than love and mercy. And why are his daughters so skittish around him? And what happened to Judd's other dog?

Marty has a lot of questions, and with the holidays right around the corner, getting answers might just take a Christmas miracle.