Plot Synopsis

Author Nell Phillips is happy to finish a long book tour for her bestseller "Small Town Christmas," but her publisher asks for one last stop, which Nell is reluctant to make. Springdale, Wisconsin, the real-life small town upon which her fictional is based. It is also the hometown of her former New York co-worker Emmett Turner. Not only did he dazzle Nell with tales of his idyllic hometown, but also asked her out on a date and never showed up. In fact, Emmett quit his job, moved back to Springdale with no explanation, and never responded to her attempts to contact him. But since arrangements with the owner of the bookstore, who happens to be Emmett, have already been made, Nell agrees to go. Sharing a rental car into Springdale, Nell and Brad, a land developer, hoping to modernize the town, pull up to the hotel. After an awkward chat with Nell, Emmett leaves dejectedly, assuming she's with Brad. The next day, he shows Nell his quaint bookstore, and introduces her to his employee as a former acquaintance. Stung, Nell wanders into town and meets a little girl, who she later learns is Emmett's niece. He'd written a letter about his sister Paige's tragic death, and how he was her child's guardian, but Nell never got the letter. Seeing Emmett in a new light, she falls for him, until she learns he's caved in with the rest of the locals to allow Brad to buy all the town's property and upgrade it into a tourist destination. Unable to bear seeing the destruction of Springdale's charm, Nell decides to leave, wondering if the man she'd romanticized in her book was just fiction all along.