On December 24th the Orient Express gets snowbound near a little mountain village and its passengers are forced to spend some time there, mingling with the local people, upsetting their usually monotonous daily lives. Beatrice, the beautiful schoolmistress, finding it harder and harder to put up with the courtship of Dal Pozzo, the arrogant, pot-bellied mayor, falls for Jacques, a handsome journalist she mistakes for a time for a dangerous criminal. On the other hand, the sight of Roxane, a vaudeville star, kindles a flame in the pure heart of Giovanni, Dal Pozzo's bullied nephew. As for the pharmacist, she starts dreaming of a new life with Mr. Davis, an easy-going Englishman. Destiny will bless some of them and thwart others.