Chris shows up at his girlfriend Joanna's parents' house expecting to meet Joanna, but Joanna is running late. A couple of hours late, in fact. He's like, "I'll just wait on you." She's like, "Oh, they're definitely watching you from the window, so you're gonna have to go in." Just as Joanna is about to give him a piece of advice that starts with "Don't ask them about…," her phone dies.

They invite Chris in to help decorate for their Christmas party. It's stepmom Nell and Dad Dave. Dave makes fun jokes like, "We might poison you with nuts." They sit down to get to know each other a little bit, and Chris asks a question: "How did you two meet?" They light up. It was 10 years ago to the date. He gets on this train full of people in ugly Christmas sweaters. Apparently, it's the inaugural ugly Christmas sweater convention. He finds the one person not wearing a Christmas sweater and sits across from her. It's Nell. He says chit-chat is hard, and she doesn't immediately tell him to get lost. She's a keeper. They begin to hit it off. The train stops due to ice, and he sees a sign for Fredo's Fruitcake, which she also happens to love. Two people who love fruitcake on the same train! He's like, "You know what, I’m gonna go get some." As he's in the store, the train begins to move. It leaves him behind! To make matters worse, they both remember each other's names incorrectly, with no way to contact each other!

Dave is talking to his daughter and says, "I just hope that fate brings us back together." But he's a busy bee. Dave is a woodworker who is planning the town’s Christmas festival. He gets a letter from the city and has to call a woman named Eleanor. Who could that be?! Turns out she's against the festival because it isn’t good budget-wise, so the phone conversation does not go well.

The next day, Dave and his daughter are walking around town, and she goes to pick up some coffee. Suddenly, Dave and Nell bump into one another! They realize that they both had the names wrong, and they're flirting hard! But then Dave gets an SOS text from his daughter. He calls, but there's no answer. So he's like, "I gotta go make sure she's okay, don't move!" Before he gets back, Nell has to move her car to avoid getting a parking ticket. Womp womp.

Joanna can't believe that he didn't get her number again! So, she posts a "Missed Connection" on his behalf. Believe it or not, they bump into each other again! This time, they exchange numbers immediately! Well, they try. He doesn't have his phone, so he tries committing it to memory but can't because people on the street are just yelling out numbers. And she puts his number in her phone but ends up dropping it before she can save it!

Wouldn't you know it, she ends up finding "his" missed connection. So she messages him, and Joanna gets it and asks her out on a date on behalf of Dave. So she comes over for his Christmas party, and they are having a great time. They're slow dancing when suddenly it all clicks for Nell—Dave is the David she's been arguing with about the Christmas festival. So she leaves and ghosts him!

Dave and Joanna are so confused, but it all becomes clear to Joanna when she joins Dave for a meeting about the festival and sees Nell. So she convinces him to leave. She decides to try to make this work by getting Nell to meet with her and tell her that she knows who she is, but her dad still doesn't. So Joanna comes up with a plan to help Nell tell David the truth. She shows up at his farm with a fruitcake, and he gives her a tour of the festival. She begins to realize how much work he's been putting into this festival and that maybe it's not an entire waste of resources.

She finally comes clean about who she is, but before she can, he tells her that he really likes her. The moment is so romantic, and she can't find it in herself to tell him the whole truth. 

Oh hey, back in the present, Joanna finally shows up after a bunch of travel hurdles. They don't quite get off to a strong start. He tells her that he loves her, and she creams him with icing and runs off. He decides he should just leave. 

Back in the past, Nell is about to tell Dave the truth, but he ends up bashing "Eleanor" before she can. Then the fire marshal shows up and shuts the festival down. She feels so bad, so she finally goes to tell him the truth. She starts by saying how much she likes him and how great he makes her feel. Just as she's about to say who she is, the fire marshal comes back in and is like, "GREAT NEWS, you pass!" and hands Eleanor the report, and it all becomes clear to David. Dave is really mad. She says she was scared to tell him the truth because what if David and Eleanor can't be together? "I just want to be Dave and Nell." He's like, "Well, maybe we aren't meant to be," and leaves.

Back in present day, Joanna texts Chris, "I love you," and her parents encourage her to go get him. No regrets. 

Back to the story that matters, Eleanor goes to find David and tell him that she was wrong and that she wants him to be a part of the magic he's created. He tells her that he is sorry for what he said; he doesn't find her unlikable at all. She says, "You're my fate." He says, "We belong." And they kiss in front of Santa in an early running for kiss of the season. 

Back to present day, Chris runs to make it back to the festival, and Joanna is so happy to see him come back. They both say they love each other and THEY KISS. Chris' parents come to spend Christmas as one big happy family, and they immediately ask Nell and Dave, "How'd you two meet?"