A burned-out children's book writer on the brink of a mid-life crisis leaves town with his best friend to do the Polar Bear Plunge in the dead of winter in Northern Wisconsin. On his quest for inspiration, he encounters three generations of a dysfunctional family. Compelling performances from Tony Shalhoub (1408, Men in Black, TV hit Monk), Ross Partridge (The Freebie, The Lost...Joe is a children's book writer and illustrator in L.A. in the second year of major writer's block. His girlfriend, impatient with his lack of progress, gets bitchy, so he breaks off the relationship and agrees to accompany her brother to a small town in Wisconsin where stalwarts jump in Lake Michigan on Christmas morning. The house where they stay is isolated, and when Joe's pal is hospitalized with a badger bite, Joe is on his own. He befriends a local hermit, is attracted to the man's granddaughter, and must deal with the local sheriff's dislike of anyone from out of town. Plus, the sheriff is the young woman's dad - with a gun. Christmas approaches and things get complicated.