Plot

After receiving an honorable discharge, a former Marine suffers a minor car accident which strands her in a small town for the Christmas season.

Captain Grace Garland, a decorated US veteran, returns home after two tours of Search and Rescue in Afghanistan. After being separated from her beloved K9 partner, Grace must rediscover the magic of Christmas. When Grace finds herself stranded in the town of River's Crossing a couple weeks before Christmas, the local judge Joe Peterson, offers her a place to stay on his property and takes it upon himself to show Grace everything she has been missing -- Christmas, family, community, and love.

Honorably discharged from the Marines, Grace is driving to Cincinnati when her SUV breaks down and Judge Joe Peterson offers his guesthouse until it's repaired. As they spend time together, they fall in love but Grace worries Joe isn't over his ex, Marnie, and Joe must decide if he should move to Chicago to be a District Court Judge. If he does, Grace sees no reason to accept a job heading the town's Search and Rescue. Overhearing Joe talking to Marnie, Grace is brokenhearted, and leaves until Joe unleashes a surprise that could make Grace stay in River Crossing forever.—Happy_Evil_Dude

Brilliant lawyer Joe Peterson is the young, popular judge in his small town home River's Crossing, waiting for a career in Chicago. When his dog shows their home to snow-stuck Grace Garland, a just-demobilized decorated US dog brigade captain and Afghanistan veteran, he offers her his guest house/man cave while she waits for his uncle Ray to repair her car, and introduces her to the Christmas-obsessed town folk. The sheriff, his friend Cooper, even offers her to lead and thus resuscitate the local rescue team with dogs, yet she remains committed to a desk job she fled by joining the army. Still, the holiday preparations and their love for dogs bring Joe and Grace ever closer, until both reconsider their plans to leave after he gets a Chicago offer.—KGF Vissers

Formerly in charge of the Marines Search & Rescue K-9 Unit in Afghanistan, Captain Grace Garland (Eloise Mumford) receives an honorable discharge and returns stateside. Missing her Marine "family," which includes Christmas, her white Labrador retriever, Grace heads cross-country to Cincinnati for a new job. Along the way, her jeep breaks down and Grace goes careening into a snow bank. Unharmed, she is greeted by a dog that leads her to his owner, Joe Peterson (Sean Faris), the Judge of Rivers Crossing. After administering first aid to a cut on Grace's forehead, Joe has her jeep towed to his uncle's auto repair shop where she learns the damage might take three weeks to repair due to the busy holiday season. Luckily, Joe has a guesthouse behind his home for Grace to stay and, according to Joe's Uncle, if anyone had to be stranded somewhere this time of the year, "River Crossing at Christmas is pretty special." In fact, the town is decorated to the hilt for the holidays and Joe and his entire family are full of the Christmas spirit. His sister Katie (Amanda Lisman) lends Grace clothing for church, his Aunt Nellie (Mary Long) is on the Christmas decorating committee, his mother Fran (Paula Barrett) is involved with the church charity, his niece Addison is in the annual Christmas play, and Joe himself portrays Santa for the town's Winter Wonderland Festival and helps to hand out Christmas trees to veterans at the army base. Invited to participate in all the festivities, Grace begins to cherish the beautiful spirit of Rivers Crossing and the town welcomes her with open arms. Even more so, Grace grows close to Joe and the two begin to fall in love. But one night while Joe and Grace are on the ice rink, Joe's ex-girlfriend Marnie (Miriam McDonald) shows up, and Grace worries that the two might still have feelings for one another. Marnie is not only beautiful but she also lives in Chicago, where Grace has just learned Joe might be moving to advance his career by becoming a District Court Judge. She'd been thinking about possibly taking Sheriff Cooper (Jacob Blair) up on his offer to head the Search & Rescue department in Rivers Crossing, but if Joe were to leave, Grace saw no point in staying. As Christmas approaches, Joe and Grace spend a great deal of time together and Joe begins to question his move to Chicago, even asking Grace if he should go. Though she wants him to stay, she tells Joe to search his heart for the answer. But when Grace goes Christmas shopping with Katie and sees Joe on the sidewalk talking with Marnie, her heart sinks. Then, when she accidentally overhears Joe on the phone with his ex, Grace decides it's time to leave town. Telling Sheriff Cooper she'll get her car later, she gives him the keys to Joe's guesthouse and asks him to say goodbye to all the wonderful people she's met. Brokenhearted, Grace boards a bus to an uncertain future without the man she loves...until Joe hears about it and sets in motion a big surprise he hopes will get Grace to stay in Rivers Crossing forever.