Plot Synopsis

Based on the book by Teri Wilson. Dr. Harper Higgins is seriously over-extended. To make ends meet, she's juggling jobs as a part-time professor at the Boston College of Art and as an instructor at the aptly named Art Bar. She barely has time to walk, much less train, Vincent an adorable, bossy stray who waddled into her life. She soon hires a dog walker, Tom, a handsome, easygoing Army vet. She needs to keep her eye on the big prize: a full-time faculty position, which can be hers if she locks up the job of curating the college's upcoming art show fundraiser. Having booked a much buzzed-about artist, she has the edge on her chief rival, Dr. Lars Klassen. But when the artist abruptly pulls out of the show three weeks before the opening, Harper sees her dream of financial security slipping away. With Lars circling like a vulture, she hurriedly assures department chief Dr. Martin that she has lined up a replacement who is even better. Aided by her friend and colleague Lindsay, Harper begins a frantic search for a suitable artist. Things are looking grim until Tom slips behind an empty easel at the Art Bar and reveals himself to be a gifted painter. Though he has always considered his painting to be private outlet, he has money woes of his own, not to mention a soft spot for Harper, and agrees to let her put his work in the exhibit. What starts out as a relatively harmless white lie snowballs into a risky charade after desperate Harper embellishes his biography to make him a marquee attraction for the show. She and Tom have precious little time to credibly transform him not just into a professional artist, but one with a capacious knowledge of art and jaw-dropping creative lineage. Meanwhile, Lars is stirring up trouble by spreading the word about her "discovery" and VIPs and students alike are buzzing with anticipation. But the greatest complicating factor of the entire scheme is occurring off campus and off-canvas-- professor and student are falling in love.