Cross Country Christmas
AKA Planes Trains and Automobiles
Lina (Racheal Leigh Cook1) is a creative solutions specialist specializing in relationships. She loves Christmas but she hasn’t been home in a few years because she is so busy2. She is looking forward to her trip home and is planning on filling her time with all the usual family traditions.
Max is in tech. His mother wants him to fly home by Friday afternoon, but he wants to avoid that. However, his mom guilts him into promising to be there on time. Lina and Max are on the same plane from New York to Ohio (I think). Lina recognizes Max from high school and remembers that he often slept during class (he had to help out on the family farm). Lina is chatty, but Max says he thinks he’ll sleep the whole flight.
Unfortunately, there is a terrible snowstorm in the Midwest, and the plane has to land early. All other Midwest flights are grounded, all the buses are sold out, and rental cars are all taken. Lina thinks she and Max should work together to get home. After all, they are going to the same town. Max would rather go it alone.
Lina sees a woman dressed like an elf crying in the airport terminal. She asks what’s wrong, and the elf says her boyfriend was supposed to meet her (he dressed as Santa) at the airport and they were going to fly to see her parents, but he never showed up. Lina convinces the elf to drive her and Max to the nearest bus stop on her way to her boyfriend’s house to talk it with him about it rather than assuming the worst. Max very reluctantly agrees to get in the elf’s car and is none too happy to listen to the women talk the whole time.
The elf drops them off in the middle of nowhere. Max is getting very annoyed that their situation is getting worse, but Lina sees a Christmas tree lot across the street with a free delivery sign. She introduces herself to the tree vendor, who has a broken arm. She offers to make all of his tree deliveries if he’ll take her and Max to the nearest train station. At first Max is incredulous that she would sign him up for that, but soon he’s having fun bringing people trees3.
The tree man takes them to a train station, and Max admits Lina had a good idea. He buys her a ticket to thank her. The train isn’t leaving for a while, so they go to the restaurant in the station and eat really bad food. Lina says she got into solutions because she likes helping people, but it keeps her so busy she hasn’t been home for Christmas in years. The last time Max went home was six months ago.
They hear a train whistle and run for it. They jump on the train as it’s leaving the station, only to find out it’s a cargo train. They are sharing a train car with a cow. Lina left her phone in the restaurant, and Max’s phone is almost out of battery life4. They have no idea where they’re headed.
They wake up the next morning in a small town in Missouri (the wrong direction). The cow belongs to a sad widower and his precocious children. The family takes them back to their house to shower and look up trains that can take them home.
The kids mention their yearly nativity play. It is performed in their barn for all the neighbors. This year Mary and Joseph had to cancel and the last minute, so Lina volunteers herself and Max to fill in. They spend the night in the house, and in the morning, Max is surprised to find Lina bought a dog grooming van from a friend to the sad widower.
The van is in terrible shape, but it does run. But when it breaks down, they get into an argument and Max tells Lina she prioritizes others to avoid her own problems. She says she’ll walk to a train station and storms off. Just as her favorite shoe’s heel breaks, Max pulls up in a tractor.
It turns out he created an app that allows farmers to share equipment, so he borrowed the tractor. His cousin lives nearby and he’s a mechanic. The cousin and his wife are happy to help out. The cousin can also fix shoe heels.
The cousin’s wife takes Lina into town for some shopping while the guys fix the dog grooming van. The cousin’s wife mentions that Max has been going through a difficult time but won’t say anything about it. She also mentions that the cousin puts on a caroling event every year, and it’s tonight. Max and Lina go to the event, which is people karaokeing carols.
On the road the next day, Max tells Lina that his father died six months ago5. His family is having a memorial for him on Friday at noon (tomorrow). Lina promises she’ll get him home on time. Max falls asleep and wakes up the next morning to find that Lina drove all night, and they have just arrived in their hometown.
Max and Lina go their family homes, and both families remark on how much happier they seem after their adventure. Max goes to Lina’s place and professes his love. And then they kiss.
The tropes:
Hallmark’s sweatheart
Workaholic who hasn’t visited their small-town home in years
Manual labor leads to romance
Characters can connect with each other because they can’t use their cell phones
Tragic backstory
manual labor LEADS to romance!