Jennifer, a young, ambitious executive running promotions at a failing Boston mall comes up with a genius promotional gimmick to save her workplace and position herself for advancement: hold a "Hunky Santa" contest to replace the old Mall Santa. David, a local man trying to save his family's pizzeria, ultimately wins the contest and sparks fly between him and Jennifer. However, complications ensue when it comes to light that the company Jennifer works for is the same one trying to run David's family out of business.
When food stylist Holly returns home for Christmas, she learns that the elderly owner of her favorite childhood bakery is retiring and has started a contest to give the bakery away to whoever can recreate her famous 12 Days of Christmas recipes. When a local baker also enters the contest, the two adversaries end up cooking up something special together for the holidays.