- Looking to adopt a child and unable to conceive a child of their own, the Morrisons' lives are turned upside down when a seven-year-old boy unexpectedly shows up on their doorstep.
- Zooey (Toni Collette) and Alec Morrison (Ioan Gruffudd) are a married couple who are struggling to bridge the painful gap that is developing between them. Unable to conceive, the Morrisons await confirmation of a child to foster. One day, a seven-year-old boy, who calls himself Eli (Maurice Cole), appears on their doorstep quite mysteriously, explaining the foster agency has sent him. The boy is old beyond his years and it becomes apparent that he is the listening ear amongst the couple's marriage breakdown. Eli offers moral support and idealistic suggestions to his foster parents on how to repair and re-kindle their love for each other. The couple begin to rebuild their foundations at home, at work and emotionally until they find the love they once had for each other. But all may not be as it seems.
- Zooey (Toni Collette) and Alec Morrison (Ioan Gruffudd) - a bookstore owner/occasional children's book writer and the owner/operator of Morrison's, the family's old fashioned toy company, respectively - want to have a baby, but have been unable to conceive ever since the accident two years ago, with the doctors believing the inability to conceive being a psychosomatic problem in not being to move on from the accident. The accident also coincided with other issues emerging in their lives. Alec took over running the family business then when his father, who started the company fifty years ago from nothing, passed away, and with the changing market in the overwhelming demand for electronic toys which Morrison's cannot compete with the global corporations, the company has been facing increasing financial challenges, with Alec having mortgaged their house to the hilt without telling Zooey merely to keep the company barely above water. And despite considering the other their one true love - they who were high school sweethearts - they have lost the fun that once characterized their relationship. With the baby issue, they decide - at least Zooey does with Alec being a little more skeptical about the idea - to consider becoming foster parents when Zooey receives the pamphlet for Lange's Foster Home. Shortly after Zooey and Alec meet with Mrs. Lange (Hayley Mills) at the home and walk away being noncommittal but having filled out the application forms, Eli (Maurice Cole), a seven-year-old boy who they saw from afar at the home, shows up on their doorstep telling them that he has been sent by Mrs. Lange as their foster son, their application which has been expedited. With Mrs. Lange temporarily incapacitated, Zooey and Alec are unable to confirm if what Eli is telling them is the truth, and thus are somewhat forced to take him in. An unusual child who always wears a suit, Eli seems to be as comfortable in the world of Sesame Street as he is in the world of Fleet Street, and slowly overtakes their lives. Coinciding with Eli entering their lives is meeting time and time again Mr. Potts (Richard E. Grant), a seemingly homeless person living in Chelsea Gardens across the street from their house, and who gives clue after clue that he knows all about their lives, including the accident. It may be no accident that both Eli and Mr. Potts entered their lives at this time, they who may be able to help deal with the issues that are currently plaguing them.—Huggo
- In Britain during the Recession that affected so much of the world late in the first decade of the 21st century, Zooey and her husband Alec want to have a child, but they can't. They might just have to consider adoption. Zooey runs a children's bookstore with her mother Diane, and Alec runs the toy company his late father founded 50 years earlier.
Eli is a 7-year-old boy who lives at Mrs. Lange's children's home. But he is more intelligent than most adults and quite mature, and he dresses like a successful businessman, though he does enjoy toys and other kid stuff. No one else appears to be able to see or hear him as he starts taking to the audience. Though Zooey and Alec are able to see him as they visit Mrs. Lange trying to become foster parents one of the children.
While they are told the application will take a while to process, Eli shows up at the couple's door with paperwork filled out and signed by Mrs. Lange. Zooey and Alec go back to Mrs. Lange to make sure everything is okay, and Mrs. Lange is being taken away unconscious in an ambulance. The one employee of the home who can help them doesn't really know about the process but looks at the paperwork and sees nothing wrong.
So Eli begins his life with Zooey and Alec. Among his many talents: he can cook.
Eli is too smart for school, so he refuses to go after the first day, but he can help Alec at his job.
The toy company is in trouble. Tom is very loyal, and he has been there 45 years. But the other workers are worried about being paid. Alec can't get a new loan and the house is already mortgaged, something he didn't tell Zooey about.
While in the park, Eli and Zooey meet a mystery man named Mr. Potts who knows what happened in 2007 (there is a room in their house Zooey refuses to let anyone into). Mr. Potts needs money and appreciates Zooey's help. Later, Alec is at the cemetery and Mr. Potts is there too, making sure the gravestones look good.
So will there be a Christmas miracle?
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