Alison remains notoriously anonymous when critiquing restaurants for the Chicago Tribune because she never wants to be treated differently than an ordinary customer. But when she accidentally goes viral for trashing a new restaurant, her editor insists she make amends by going undercover as a prep cook for the chef she maligned.

Harper, a teacher and aspiring illustrator, eager for her big break, is tapped to collaborate with Caleb, a demanding children’s book author whose celebrity is waning. When he insists on her working through Christmas week in a quaint small town in Colorado, she must use the town’s holiday celebrations to help break him out of his writer’s block.