Handlung

After cancer claims Matt Kell's life on Christmas Day 2005, his widow Gina and their two young sons must cope with the pain of his loss, while their church community gathers around them for support. Wanting to be close to her kids, Gina starts to volunteer at their elementary school and meets Jack, Danny, and Charlotte Spehn. In a gut-wrenching coincidence, just weeks after Matt's death, the Spehns' mom Cathy also suddenly succumbs to cancer, leaving her distraught husband Michael to care for their three kids on his own. Sensing the hopelessness in Michael that she so recently saw in herself, Gina reaches out to Michael and his kids, and the two families begin to forge an unlikely friendship and close bond. Over the year that follows, their lives become intertwined as they learn to lean on each other during the at-times insurmountable obstacles, tears, and adversity, and begin to heal with laughter, compassion, and faith. As Gina and Michael realize that their newfound friendship is so much more, they struggle against surprising resistance from their families and community to unite their two grieving families as one and eventually learn to open their hearts to love again.—Hallmark

Matt Kell dies from a slow cancer, leaving wife Gina and two preteen sons Drew and Sam. A bit later, Matt's best mate Michael Spehn loses his wife Cathy to rapid cancer, leaving him with three preteens: Jack, Danny, and Charlotte. Both families struggle to resume a somewhat normal life, but the parents feel stifled by the helpful small-town community and Michael by his busybody parent-in-law. Over time, the widow(er) duo finds support among each other and grows ever closer, as the kids instantly bond to become inseparable playmates. After a year, rumors about an "indecent" romance and Charlotte's hostility against "unwanted mother-substitute" Gina nearly overrule the joint family vote to virtually merge, but the boys' eagerness to all play angels at the parish Christmas pageant triggers truth time.—KGF Vissers