Carly Bridges heads to Waterford Creek to lead a Christmas choir and escape the loneliness of losing her mom. Matthew Wheeler is on the same bus returning from serving overseas. He sees a guitar pick with the word Joy.

While he is welcomed by his family, she settles into her rental and is welcomed by Pastor John and his wife, Susan. They tell her about the choir and invite her to church the next day to hear them.

Matthew is the tree wizard and has decorated the family tree in no time. He's so proud his sister Riley has finally joined the choir.

Unfortunately, the choir, while enthusiastic, could not sing. Paster John shows Carly photos of when they could sing but says they haven't had a choir director in a while, and he thinks she's what they need. She's passionate and has fresh ideas.

Riley tells Matthew they are better than last week, so they decide to grab lunch and celebrate. When he goes back into the church, he nearly bumps into Carly in a meet-cute.

The next day, Carly has everyone introduce themselves and explain why they joined the choir. She has her work cut out for her. No one en knows if they're a soprano or an alto.

Susan thinks Carly brightens up the place, and she reminds her of someone. She's determined to make the holidays special for her, so she asks Matthew to get her a tree.

Carly runs into Matthew at the tree farm, and she hears him singing, so she practically begs him to join the choir. They're so cute as they select her tree, and she opens up to him about how she misses her mom since it was just the two of them.

He reassures her that you can choose other family, too. The next day, she assigns the solo to Riley and tries to bond with George after. While drinking tea after, she learns that his wife loved to go caroling and sharing holiday cheer. He joined the choir to feel close to her.

Matthew and Jenny catch up. They're in different places since he's just returned home, and she wants to leave to get her MBA. He's also disappointed that the local pharmacy that served peppermint egg creams is gone.

He runs into Carly at the record store, and she wants his help choosing a new holiday album since she gets a new one annually with her mom. He suggests this year, he'll swap albums with her. She's very inspired by his choice and begins writing some new lyrics.

Carly encourages the choir to think of a joyful time in their lives and hold on to that feeling. They sound better when they sing from the heart.

Susan invites Carly to the holiday dance and then invites her to help make candles for the dance. Jenny seems surprised since her mom hardly lets anyone in her studio.

Matthew makes the rounds at the dance before running into Carly. She's beginning to appreciate small-town life. George asks Carly to dance. Matthew and Jenny reminiscence about the old days before Matthew finds Carly outside.

She wants this Christmas choir performance to be special because the Shephards have been so good to her and are paying her out of their own money.

Carly decides to take the choir caroling, and as they sing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," it brightens up George's spirits, and he wants to continue.

Matthew hears Carly help Riley with her solo and invites her to their wreath-making party. Hers has a personality, and when Matthew brings her home, he wants to hear her sing.

Carly sings part of her new song, which was inspired by the album he bought her and the song by Blake Shelton. She wants to teach it to the choir.

She handed out the lyrics and notes at the next practice, and she learned that Tyler missed practice because he was shoveling snow and clearing wood to help his mom. Carly recruits the others to help decorate Tyler's house.

Alice rushes over and shows them how to decorate oranges with cloves. It shows how this community adopts everyone. Matthew and Carly share an intimate moment as he helps her wrap presents, and his finger gets stuck in the ribbon.

The choir finally found its rhythm. Carly snaps a photo and has planned a celebration for them at the orchard, complete with making the peppermint egg creams Matthew loves.

Carly tells Jenny about her family and her dad, and Jenny tries not to react when she hears her dad's name, Fernie. Hearing that, Jenny confronts her mom about why they brought Carly there.

Riley sees Matthew with Carly's guitar pick and tells him how important it is to her.

At the Christmas Eve Eve party, Carly toasts her new friends, saying they've become like family. Carly sees Matthew and Jenny talk outside and gets the wrong idea. After Matthew gives her the guitar pick, she hurries off.

The next day, in Pastor Joohn's office, Carly sees an old photo of Susan in the choir and notices her maiden name is Fernie. The truth spills out. Susan is her aunt, and didn't want her to be alone for the holidays.

At first, Carly was shocked, but then she seemed grateful to have more family. Matthew arrived to tell her how much he liked her before they had a successful holiday service.

When Pastor John invites her to stay on, she realizes this was her mom's plan.