A woman is widowed before her first child is born. The child, Mattie, has a speech impediment and other children mock her, which causes hurt feelings. She is, however, very kind to others, a trait she learns from her mother and the interactions in church.
When she gets to her teens, she helps any way she can to make life better for her mother and her. Spotting three falling stars she makes wishes, and through a conversation with a special friend, she realizes only through prayer will they come true. When her friend moves off, she's devastated.
She takes a typing class and is elated since she can type as fast as she thinks, rather than the way she talks. Yearning for a typewriter, but without the funds to buy one, she mentions the desire to her friend that moved. His parents, grateful she helped him walk again, provide her the typewriter for Christmas.
With the typewriter Mattie writes a book for a contest; it's rejected but one person thought it very good and sent instructions on how to make changes and submit to a publisher she knows. Mattie does that and sends it off.
When her mother and the man she's in love with, Jacob, get married, it's the answer to the second wish on a star.
A tragic bus accident puts her in the hospital with major head injuries. A newly arrived surgeon helps relieve the pressure on the brain and she survives. But not before she envisions being in heaven and the need for her to return to her family.
She awakens and no longer has the speech impediment. And the third wish upon a star comes to pass.
Her book gets published and she receives a copy of it and a check from the company right before Christmas. Her mother gives birth on Christmas day to a son. She now has a brother. Not a wish on a star but she's going to love him as she's learned to love as Jesus loves everyone.
