There has been an eleven month freeze in Emily and Sam's relationship, ever since last Christmas as Sam didn't feel like he could trust her, especially with Violet, without Emily answering questions about her past, questions she didn't feel like she could answer for him. With the Christmas season approaching again, Violet, unaware of the issue between her father and Emily is hinting that she'd like her old job at the Mistletoe back. Emily feels compelled unofficially to look into the "disappearance" of someone important in Violet's life, her English teacher, Tim Henley, the double quotes as he is not officially missing in having abruptly submitted his resignation to deal with a personal issue. He became an even more integrated part of her life as he was the coach of the school's chess club, its star player, Kyle Granger, on who Violet has been crushing and who Mr. Henley had asked Violet to tutor in he failing English, a failing grade which would preclude him from being on the chess team and thwart his chances of receiving a scholarship. But as Emily investigates and believes foul play has indeed occurred, she has to convince Sam of Tim truly having disappeared, before she can insert herself into an official investigation.
自从去年圣诞节以来，艾米丽和山姆的关系已经僵持了十一个月。山姆觉得无法信任她，尤其是在维奥莱特面前，因为艾米丽不愿回答关于她过去的问题，而她觉得自己无法替山姆回答这些问题。圣诞节临近，维奥莱特并不知道父亲和艾米丽之间的问题，她暗示自己想回到槲寄生酒馆工作。艾米丽感到自己有责任私下调查维奥莱特生命中一个重要人物的“失踪”——她的英语老师蒂姆·亨利。之所以用双引号，是因为他并没有正式失踪，而是突然递交了辞呈去处理个人事务。随着他成为学校国际象棋俱乐部的教练，以及俱乐部明星棋手凯尔·格兰杰的教练，他与薇奥莱特的生活更加紧密地交织在一起。凯尔一直暗恋着薇奥莱特，亨利先生也曾请薇奥莱特辅导他不及格的英语。如果凯尔的英语不及格，他不仅会失去加入国际象棋队的机会，还会失去获得奖学金的希望。然而，随着艾米丽的调查深入，她确信其中必有蹊跷，但她必须先说服萨姆相信蒂姆确实失踪了，才能介入正式的调查。
