SECRET SANTA

Although she's not a complete Scrooge, newspaper reporter Rebecca Chandler has lost her holiday spirit and must force herself through the "merry motions." When her two-timing boyfriend abruptly ends their year-and-a-half-long relationship, she accepts a holiday assignment in the backwater hamlet of Hamden, Ind. Her mission: to find the elusive Secret Santa who, each year, surprises a needy soul with a thoughtful gift. Fed up with fluffy features about three-legged Lassies rescuing their masters, Rebecca decides to do a hard-hitting investigative piece to unveil the mysterious country gift giver. Predictably, the eccentric town characters file away Rebecca's hard city edges until her quest for Secret Santa's identity renews her Christmas cheer. Polson and Miller's breezy prose reads like the script of a mildly entertaining, sentimental made-for-TV movie (after all, he's written movies for the small screen and she's produced them) with the classic yuletide message that "giving is its own reward." (Nov.)