Melanie Welch is a hard-working producer at the Farnsworth Advertising Agency. She is under consideration for what will soon be a vacancy as Creative Director.
One of her colleagues is the up-and-coming Donovan Goodwin, another possible candidate. Donovan doesn't celebrate Christmas. He is not close to his family and so Christmas to him is just another day. He is not a Scrooge, he doesn't understand what the big deal is.
After his proposed Christmas ad campaign for an important cell phone client is declined for "having no heart", Melanie is teamed with Donvan to dream up the ultimate Christmas commercial that will retain the cell phone giant.
To make things more complicated, Melanie draws Donovan's name in their annual office's Secret Santa activity. She is fairly attracted to him, so wants to find a perfect gift. She uses a fake email account to probe his likes and dislikes. Ironically, unknown to her, Donovan is in a similar situation himself. He likes Melanie and has drawn her name from the Secret Santa hat.
As the two work side by side, their feelings continue to grow. She takes him to her sister's house to see how they get into the holiday spirits. It is in watching Zach, her young nephew, that an idea for the ad campaign takes shape: A little boy wants to send Santa a gift request for his dad, but there is not time for a written letter to get to the North Pole. What's the solution? Use a cell phone to get the message to Santa with time to spare. The client loves it.
Melanie and Donovan each manage to get the other a meaningful present because they have come to know each other so well.