Vagabonden Chance Glover har været på farten i tyve år, men da han er i sin hjemby Salt Lake City omkring jul, beslutter han at opsøge familien, selvom han vagabondvenner fraråder ham det. Han håber på at kunne læge de gamle sår, blive genforenet med sin søn Charlie og møde sine børnebørn. Da han dukker op kan Charlie ikke tilgive, at han bare forlod familien 25 år tidligere, men han lader sin far få en enkelt juledag med sine børnebørn. Den dag får stor betydning for dem alle.

A hobo played by Barnard Hughes decides it's time to go home. Drifting from place to place, Hughes finds himself in his hometown of Salt Lake City at Christmas time. Here he hopes to close old wounds and be reunited with his unforgiving son played by Gerald McRaney, and get to know the grandchildren he has never met. McRaney, still resenting the fact that Hughes ran out on his family 25 years earlier, gives his father only one day with his grandkids; after that, he's expected to leave and never come back. All the while Hughes' friends warn him that his son and the past are memories that are best left alone, and should leave, but he has to find out for himself.