Estelle “Stella” Bloom owns a small Christmas tree farm just outside of the small town of Inglewild, Maryland. When she purchased the farm two years earlier, she thought that her experience would be like a romantic Hallmark movie. However, Lovelight Farms is currently in debt, and many of the trees are infested with raccoons or an unknown disease. Stella tries to conceal the severity of the trouble from her business associates—Beckett Porter, a reclusive farmer, and Layla Dupree, the exuberant woman who runs the farm’s bakehouse—along with her best friend, Luka Peters, on whom it is later revealed Stella has a crush after nine years of friendship.

In an attempt to gain funds and publicity, Stella has entered a contest started by the famous destination hospitality influencer Evelyn St. James. If she were to win the competition, the farm would get $100,000 and be featured on Evelyn’s lucrative platform. However, in an attempt to appeal to Evelyn by making her farm seem like the Hallmark romance that Stella wanted it to be, Stella mentioned in the contest application that she runs the farm with her boyfriend.