Hailey throws puppy parties and meets Ryan, whose daughter wants a dog and her dad to remarry. Though smitten with each other, Ryan and Hailey are at odds since he’s developing a mall where she wants a dog park. Still, they grow close, and Ryan even helps when Hailey’s neighbor tries to shut down her business. But soon Hailey fears she’s barking up the wrong romantic tree when Ryan grows distant. Refocusing her efforts on a dog sanctuary, Hailey is suddenly asked to throw a puppy party that might result in a forever home for her dogs and her heart.

Author Nell Phillips’ first book has become a surprise best-seller of the Christmas season. Nell’s last stop on a nationwide book tour takes her to the town of Springdale, the hometown of Emmett Turner, a young man she met over five years ago while both were junior copy editors at a New York publishing company. Nell was hurt when Emmett stood her up for a dinner date and then disappeared from New York without any explanation. As Nell is quick to admit, Emmett’s colorful, nostalgic anecdotes about Springdale inspired her to write this book that is shaping her life and especially this holiday season.

A harsh TV personality, Jennifer, needs a break from her own life, so she hops into a car and drives to a small town mountain retreat. On her way there a blizzard veers off the road and she crashes. When she comes to she has complete amnesia and a friendly passerby takes her in. As time passes she still doesn’t remember who she is and the friendly passerby, a widower himself with three kids, assimilates her into his family. But as she slowly starts remembering who she is, she prefers the new life she’s built in the small town.