The Earth is freezing to death, and starships are carrying Her children to the stars. But there is a final starship that is having difficulties, and starship mechanic Carl Merriweather is called upon to repair it. But he never expected to be plucked out of the last shuttle off the planet by a sleigh and nine flying reindeer, to make last-minute repairs on Santa’s broken spacecraft! But Santa didn’t send for Carl. Using a mortal repairman was entirely the idea of Santa’s old Moorish sidekick, Black Peter, who borrowed the flying sleigh to shanghai Carl and bring him to the North Pole. But Mrs. Claus takes an instant dislike for the mortal repairman, certain that her industrious elves can repair the ship without him. She wants Carl gone. Black Peter wants Carl to stay. Santa just wants the yelling to stop. Black Peter introduces Carl to many of the other ancient legends of Earth, brought together to be evacuated. Surrounded by strangeness, can Carl find out what’s wrong with the starship before the Earth freezes? Or before he is lynched, hunted down, lasered, or eaten by insane, shape-shifting legends from Man’s Golden Age?