Father Brown attempts to overturn a miscarriage of justice while rehearsing for the Kembleford Christmas pantomime.

It's December, and Father Brown, Mrs McCarthy and Bunty are visited by an old friend as they make mince pies and decorate the presbytery. Sid has returned for Christmas, bearing gifts from Lady Felicia. Meanwhile as locals walk through the woods, a dog uncovers a partially skeletonised hand in the cold ground. The body is identified as Scarlett Dreyfuss, a woman reported missing after the dress rehearsal of Red Riding Hood in 1946, throwing open a seven year-old case.

Father Brown must stop a much-loved institution from going off the rails when the local stationmaster is murdered..