On Christmas Eve, on a small snow-covered Aegean island in the late 19th century, Ahtitsa, a poor elderly woman, struggles to raise her two orphaned grandchildren, with the help of her kind neighbor Gerbinho. Just as despair is about to consume her, a check from her long-lost son in America brings hope. When the village grocer attempts to exploit her ignorance of its true value, a chance intervention by a stranded merchant from Syros gifts Ahtitsa a brighter future.