The Twelve Dates of Christmas

Kate Turner is a 34-year-old fabric designer for Liberty, a prestigious London department store, who lives in the small English village of Blexford. She moved back four years ago to care for her father, Mac, after her mother left him for an estate agent and ran off to Spain. Kate bakes for the Pear Tree Café, run by her childhood best friend Matt Wells, in exchange for free coffee for life. Matt inherited the café from his mother, who died along with his older sister in a car accident when he was 17; after a failed marriage in Manchester, he returned to Blexford and reopened it as the village's social hub. Kate's other best friend, Laura, head custodian of nearby Blexford Manor, persuades Kate to sign up for the Twelve Dates of Christmas, a program run by the Lightning Strikes dating website promising twelve dates at twelve locations in the weeks before Christmas.

Kate's first date, Richard, a hedge fund professional, never shows up. She waits on the village green until Matt brings her hot chocolate and a blanket, then goes home, where Laura arrives with patisserie cakes and wine. Her second date, Michael, breaks down in tears over losing his girlfriend, and Kate spends the evening consoling him. Driving home, she spots Matt and his girlfriend Sarah walking arm in arm through the snow, and a deep ache settles in her chest. Her third date, Anthony, a fireman and single father, is charming, but he reveals he does not want more children. Kate, who wants children, walks away despite their chemistry. Back in Blexford, she helps Matt hang Christmas lights, and he mentions wanting to synchronize their future child-rearing so their kids could grow up together.

The fourth date is a cocktail evening where Kate's assigned date abandons her. She is paired instead with Oliver, a tree surgeon who confesses he let the love of his life go because he was too proud to follow her. They get extremely drunk and kiss for hours. Her fifth date, Drew, a banker, turns out to be gay due to a website mix-up. They dance salsa together and become genuine friends. Afterward, Richard reappears, explains his son was hospitalized the night he stood Kate up, and jump-starts her dead car. Kate gives him her number.

For the sixth date, a pub quiz, Kate brings Sarah, Matt's girlfriend and headmistress of Great Blexley Primary, as her companion. Sarah freezes upon spotting Oliver: He is her ex-fiancé. Their relationship ended because Oliver refused to relocate when Sarah accepted her position. Kate knocks over a table so Sarah can escape, but Sarah insists her feelings for Matt are genuine. Kate is left with an inexplicable unease. The seventh date is a winter hike with Phil, a charismatic Australian who owns an extreme sports store. Phil kisses Kate in a snowy clearing. Richard calls too, and they meet at the Smugglers Arms, where he has arranged a candlelit dinner. Kate drives home thinking he might be the one. Around this time, Mac reveals he is dating Evelyn, the woman who runs the village shop and who raised Matt after his mother's death.

One evening, Kate bakes mince pies with Matt at the café. He has strung the old pear tree in the garden with fairy lights, and Kate is moved, knowing what the gesture would mean to his late mother. Matt credits Sarah with helping him stop clinging to the past. In bed that night, Kate confronts an unwanted thought: She wonders whether her feelings for Matt go beyond friendship.

Phil calls to say he is returning to Australia, having realized he still loves his son's mother. Kate's eighth date, Jim, reveals the evening was about sex and a betting ring. Jim is expelled from the program. Kate calls Evelyn, who directs her to the New Covent Garden flower market, where Matt is buying Christmas trees. During the long drive home beside Matt in the warm, dark van, Kate can no longer deny what she feels: She loves him. She vows never to tell.

Kate confesses to Laura, who is stunned but supportive. They agree nothing can be done since Matt is with Sarah. Kate throws herself into her connection with Richard. Her ninth date is an escape room, but her date Edward flees after Richard threatens him to stay away. Kate confronts Richard, furious at his possessiveness. Back in Blexford, Matt furiously confronts Kate: Sarah told him about Oliver at the pub quiz. Matt accuses Kate of keeping the secret and being jealous of his happiness. They have a vicious argument. Kate learns Sarah has asked Matt for space, saying neither of them has resolved their pasts. Devastated, Kate decides to leave Blexford after Christmas.

When Petula, the village knitter, delivers Kate's annual custom Christmas jumper, Kate is so emotionally fragile she cries. Her tenth date, a gingerbread house competition, is hijacked by Adam, a controlling architect who smashes the house when Kate covers his design with gaudy sweets. Afterward, Laura reveals a secret she has kept for over a decade: About six months after Kate left to go traveling after university, Matt traveled to Liverpool to profess his love, but Kate had already gone. Kate is stunned. Mac later helps her see that Laura's silence allowed Kate to build her career and become who she is. They reconcile. Kate's eleventh date is an uneventful wine tasting. That night, needing to forget Matt, she agrees to bring Richard home. At the Duke's Head along the way, Matt overhears Richard lying to his wife on the phone. Matt confronts Richard outside; Richard swings at Matt, and Matt punches him and tells Kate the truth: Richard is married. Kate walks away devastated.

Kate packs to leave. An escaped flock of partridges causes chaos in the village, and one enters the café. Kate finds Matt cowering behind the counter, paralyzed by his fear of birds. She traps the partridge and removes it. Matt tells Kate not to leave and kisses her, soft and tentative. Kate pushes him away, insisting he has a girlfriend, and flees.

At Fitzwilliam Park for the twelfth date, an outdoor screening of It's a Wonderful Life, Kate meets Drew, who has found love outside the program. Drew slips away, and Matt sits beside Kate. He explains that he and Sarah broke up the night he delivered Kate's tree: Sarah recognized Matt was still in love with Kate, just as Sarah still loved Oliver. Matt confesses he has always loved Kate. She kisses him.

On Christmas Eve, Kate wakes beside Matt. Mac discovers them and declares it "a Christmas miracle." Kate cancels her move. That evening, the village gathers for the caroling procession, and Matt kisses Kate publicly in the churchyard. The carolers walk through Potters Copse, which the villagers have transformed into a wonderland of fairy lights and handmade decorations. After the procession ends at the café, Matt gives Kate a quilt sewn by Petula and Evelyn from patches of every fabric Kate has ever designed, pieces he collected over the years from Laura, Mac, and the internet. They sit under the fairy-lit pear tree in the snowy garden, wrapped in the quilt, as snow begins to fall.