A troubled kid is adopted by a family at long last. The husand is a musician who checks in by phone when he’s on the road; his wife (Vanessa Williams, circa 1990) is a doting mother at home.  This could be little Reggie’s best Christmas ever.

But wait: tragedy strikes! Vanessa Williams dies in a vague car accident, which means the kid that just got a mommy now has a dead mommy. For a minute it feels like her death is just an excuse to have Della Reese belt out Amazing Grace in a church, but have a little faith, folks: Eddie Murphy wouldn’t have produced just any Christmas TV movie. Her death is also an excuse for evil family services to swoop in and revoke the adoption (a single father is unstable!), which in turn allows us to see a little boy penning this heartfelt letter to Santa:

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is my Daddy.

Love, Reggie

Daddy does everything in his power to win back the kid (with a little help from Sammy Davis Jr., true story) but it’s going to take a little bit of Christmas magic for this kid’s holiday wish to come true.

Don’t you just feel vicariously all warm and fuzzy inside?