When Holly Winters heads home for Christmas, she's full of hope that this holiday will be different from the prior year when she was painfully recovering from being dumped by her ex-boyfriend. Her best friend runs a temp agency in town and begs her to help with an unexpected demand for an administrative assistant at a law office where the young boss has scared away the previous assistant. After teaching tough high school kids in New York City, Holly feels ready to take him on with the hope that it will be for only a few days.

Corey Devlin hasn't been able to celebrate the holidays since his father died on Christmas Day two years ago, a death for which he blames himself. He tells himself and his office staff it would be disrespectful to celebrate the day his father died and isn't prepared when Holly, who loves Christmas, enters the scene.