Willa Murray receives a gift of an angel cookie ornament with a note signed by Mrs. Claus. It bears a cryptic message about watching for an angel in disguise who will soon cross her path. With her job as a lead actress in jeopardy (since the theater owner's niece wants the position for herself), she shrugs off the strange gift and heads home to Pinetop, Arizona for a long overdue visit with her folks. One of the first people in town she encounters is the annoying and cocky blast from her past, Angel Castellano, who's been bragging since age eight that he plans to marry her some day. He's grown into a much taller and handsomer man than he had any right to. He's also the owner and head chef of a dinner theater in desperate need of a new entertainment director for the upcoming Christmas pageant, a position he is quick to offer her. Plus he makes the world's most amazing gingerbread cookies shaped liked angels, which he clearly is not despite his name—cookies that bear a startling resemblance to the ornament she was gifted before leaving the city. For the first time in months, Willa begins to hope there might be something more for her to look forward to than life as a has-been actress in full-blown spinsterhood. Perhaps the elusive Mrs. Claus was right and Willa's very own Angel has been hiding in plain sight all these years.