The town of Rudolph, New York, has the Christmas spirit all year long—but when homicide heats up a summer holiday, it’s up to shop owner Merry Wilkinson to wrap up the case.
In Rudolph, Christmas in July heralds Santa’s arrival by boat to begin his summer vacation at the lake, and Merry Wilkinson, owner of Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, is looking forward to a busy weekend. But she’s caught off guard when her ex-fiancé, Max Folger, unexpectedly arrives with a team from a lifestyle magazine wanting to do a feature on the July festivities.
It’s clear that Max’s visit has less to do with business and more to do with winning back Merry’s heart. Merry has too much on her plate to deal with an old flame, but when Max is found strangled to death in Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, she must find out who wanted him dead—and stop a killer from ruining the summer holiday cheer.
Rudolph is celebrating Christmas in July, so Merry's father will be reprising his on-going role as Santa and this year they plan to arrive by boat rather than the parade they have done previously. Merry is getting ready (including making sure there is plenty of stock in the shop), she is slightly derailed when a group arrive from the lifestyle magazine she used to work out, apparently they plan to do a feature on the Christmas in July and Rudolph, so far so good, but when Merry realises that one of the group is her ex-fiance and that he wants her back (not to get married you understand but to be his mistress!) things start spiralling out of control. It all comes to a head when Max (the ex) is found dead in the shop, Merry's assistant has gone missing, Max's current fiance is being a spoilt Diva and no-one knows what is going on!