It's the Christmas season, and while Starsky is happily getting into the festivities, Hutch is far more sceptical about people's sudden goodwill over the period. Responding to a call of petty shop-lifting, the pair meet Molly, a twelve-year-old tomboy, who lives with her father, a recently released convict turned alcoholic. But when soon after the girl's father is murdered by his two former partners-in-crime, who are determined to get their hands on the stolen diamond cache he went to prison for, Hutch finds himself taking Molly in for Christmas. Unfortunately, with Molly being the only one who now knows the whereabouts of the diamonds, the two crooks who killed her father are now after her...