Country music superstar Lorna Davis (Dolly Parton) is overwhelmed and disillusioned by her career and loneliness. She plans a trip to a friend's cabin in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains to escape from Los Angeles and recuperate during the Christmas season.
Upon arriving there, Lorna finds it has become the impromptu home of seven orphans who are hiding from the orphanage in town. They actually discover her sleeping in one of the beds (an allusion to the Seven Dwarfs finding Snow White), to which the youngest proclaims: "I know who she is. She's the Angel."
Because they both have secrets to keep - the children don't want to be found by the orphanage and Lorna doesn't want to be found by anyone from L.A. - they agree to keep each other's presence at the cabin a secret. She then quickly builds strong friendships with them, although it takes a while to win over cautious Jake, the eldest.
Little does she know, Lorna has been followed there by Harry (Dan Hedaya), a sleazy and enterprising paparazzo who is determined to reveal her hidden location. In addition to him, she faces Jezebel (Anita Morris), a mountain "witch woman" who is determined to kill her for attracting the eye of her lover, John Jensen (Bo Hopkins), the sheriff of the nearby town. She is saved from Jezebel's first attempt on her life by Mountain Dan (Lee Majors), a wandering mountain man who is wise to the ways of "mountain folk."
After Harry reveals Lorna's identity to John, she is arrested and the children are taken back to the orphanage. Jezebel, disguised as an old woman, delivers a poisoned pie to Lorna in prison, but is tricked into eating it herself and falls into an endless sleep. Lorna is freed by Jake, Dan, and Harry and they formulate a plan to free the children from the orphanage.
Dressed as Santa Claus and a helper elf, Dan and Lorna are able to get into the orphanage and free them, only to be stopped by John while trying to escape.
They are taken before extremely uninterested Judge Harold Benton (John Ritter) who eventually dismisses all charges against Lorna and Dan and grants custody of the children to her.
The movie features seven songs.[2] They were all written by Parton except "(I'd Like to Spend) Christmas with Santa" which was written by her uncle Bill Owens. A soundtrack album for the movie was never released. In 2022, Parton included "A Smoky Mountain Christmas", "(I'd Like to Spend) Christmas with Santa", and "Wrapped Up in You" on the Ultimate Deluxe Edition of her album A Holly Dolly Christmas.[3]
