Plot Synopsis

Candace is a young businesswoman who's never been able to live up to the standards set by her celebrity mother, Liz Livingstone, a lifestyle mogul whose name is synonymous with perfection. With Christmas approaching, Candace learns that Liz plans to retire and leave her in charge of the Livingstone brand, a sprawling empire that includes bestselling cookbooks, DIY craft blogs and a popular lifestyle magazine. Meanwhile, Harper, a young girl living in a small town in Vermont, posts a video online and begs Liz to arrange a special holiday party for her father, a deployed soldier returning home on Christmas Eve. When the video goes viral, Liz sends a reluctant Candace to Vermont in her place, hoping the experience will help prepare her to become the new face of the brand. When she arrives in the charming town of Cedar Falls, she meets Harper's family and quickly forms a bond with the young girl's uncle, John, a handsome local newspaper reporter. As she takes part in a series of traditional Christmas activities as the town's honored guest, she struggles to impress the townspeople and mask her inability to perform household holiday projects at her mother's level of expertise. Along the way, she finds herself beginning to fall for John. But when the guest count for the homecoming party expands to include the entire town - and she's put on the spot and asked to cook a massive holiday feast she soon realizes she's in over her head. To make matters worse, she discovers that John has been asked to write a story, exposing her as an unworthy successor to her mother's empire. On Christmas Eve, when Harper's dad returns home and the town eagerly awaits his celebration, Candace scrambles for a way to give the townsfolk the entertaining Christmas they're expecting, save her holiday romance and prove she's finally ready to take her mom's place.