Just before Christmas, independently minded Dr. Kate Stafford has started her latest one year orthopedic fellowship, this one at the small town Cedar Park Hospital. Long having been without family, Kate has frequently moved around and has never made an effort to make any place where she's lived at any given time feel like home in the difficulty, if she did, not if but when she ultimately makes the choice to leave. She does believe that Chicago is where she would ultimately like to end up in it being the last happy memory of family when she was a child. This Christmas is the first back to Cedar Falls in six years for native son Kevin Matthews, the son of Kate's real estate agent Maggie Matthews, Kevin who has just been decommissioned from the Air Force. While there is unspoken pressure from his father Arnold Matthews to take over the family hardware store, Kevin, equally independently minded as Kate, is trying to find his own way in civilian life, that path which he has yet no idea. Kate and Kevin's first chance meetings are antagonistic ones in each displaying her/his independent streak. But they are brought together when some anonymous person is sending them on a joint Christmas mission in the form of rhyming couplet Christmas riddles and followup tasks, they both intrigued by the riddles and the identity of the anonymous sender. As they embark on this mission, they start to fall for each other, which makes them both consider settling in Cedar Falls, something furthest from their minds when they first arrived. Their individual professional paths may factor into if there is a possible happily-ever-after for them. Written by Huggo
