Hallmark’s Christmas movie season is officially underway, and so is ours. ‘Tis the Season for Setups is the first of 41 movies we hope, hopefully, to recap as we make our way from Friday, October 16, all the way to December 20.
The first movie gives us two matchmaking schemes for the price of one. Amanda Schull stars as Lexi, a hyper-organized single mom and party planner who heads to a Colorado ski resort with her daughter and mother, only to meet Ridge (Victor Webster). Before long, Lexi and Ridge try to push their parents together, unaware that June and Dan have the exact same plan for them.
Why Does Lexi Go to Breckenridge?
Christmas isn’t going particularly well for Lexi. Her 17-year-old daughter, Piper, normally goes on an annual ski trip with her father, but he is stuck working in Malaysia this year.
Money is tight for Lexi, too. She can’t afford the new snowboard Piper wants, and taking her on the ski trip herself isn’t really an option either.
Lexi’s mother, June, couldn’t be more different from her daughter. While Lexi likes schedules, plans, and knowing exactly what comes next, June is free-spirited and spends her time traveling around the world, often by herself.
Seeing Piper’s disappointment gives June an idea. Her old college friend Dan owns a ski resort in Breckenridge, Colorado, and happens to need a party planner for his annual holiday party. Lexi gets a job, Piper gets her trip, and June gets to spend Christmas with an old friend.
Of course, there’s a little more to June’s plan than that.
Dan is a widower who has his own family problem. He owns the resort and has a habit of micromanaging everything, including his son Ridge.
Ridge was a professional snowboarder until a knee injury ended his career. He moved into the business world and launched several successful startups, but his latest venture took a hit, bringing him back home to help his father at the resort.
Lexi and Ridge Get Off to a Rocky Start
Lexi and Ridge’s first meeting doesn’t exactly scream Christmas romance. Ridge initially thinks Lexi is his snowboard lesson appointment. It doesn’t take him long to decide she’s far too uptight for one.
Later, they meet again and realize who the other actually is. Ridge is Dan’s son, while Lexi is June’s daughter and the party planner Dan hired.
It also becomes very clear how the four of them fit together. Dan and Lexi are the planners. They like rules, security, and responsibility. June and Ridge are more creative and spontaneous. That gives June and Dan an idea. Their children could balance each other out perfectly.
What they don’t know is that Lexi and Ridge are thinking exactly the same thing.
Lexi would love for her mother to settle down rather than disappearing to some exotic destination every Christmas, and getting together with Dan could even give June a reason to move back to Colorado. Ridge sees another advantage: if Dan had someone else in his life, maybe he would loosen his grip on the resort and give his son a little breathing room. And so the matchmaking begins from both directions.
Everyone’s Christmas Setups Keep Backfiring
Lexi and Ridge come up with a series of festive excursions and excuses to get June and Dan alone. It never quite works.
Thanks to June and Dan’s own matchmaking, their carefully planned outings keep turning into group activities. Christmas ornament shopping, a sled ride, an escape room with Piper, and Christmas karaoke all become opportunities for both sides to secretly push Lexi and Ridge together while Lexi and Ridge are trying to do the same thing to their parents.
Even when Dan accidentally offends June over her free-spirited lifestyle, Lexi and Ridge step in. They arrange an apology on Dan’s behalf without Dan even knowing about it.
Spending so much time together has another effect. The matchmaking starts mattering less as Lexi and Ridge begin genuinely enjoying each other’s company. Eventually, they kiss.
Lexi is also reconnecting with Piper. She’s spent so much time worrying about being the responsible parent that she regrets never being the fun one.
Piper gets a glimpse of a different side of her mother when they go skiing together and discovers Lexi is actually very good at it. Lexi even lets herself relax enough to TikTok dance with her daughter, something she normally never seems to have time for.
June and Dan’s Big Secret Comes Out
The two matchmaking plots finally collide during a night of Christmas tree decorating.
June starts dancing in her usual free-spirited way, and Dan casually mentions that he hasn’t seen her dance like that since the Orient Express. There’s just one problem: June took that trip only a month earlier.
The truth comes out: June and Dan haven’t simply reconnected during this Christmas trip, they’ve been together for a year.
They found each other again through social media several years earlier, and when they finally met in person, the old spark was still there. As they talked about their children, they became convinced Lexi and Ridge were perfect for each other. The entire trip has been a setup.
Lexi is upset with her mother, and Ridge isn’t happy with Dan either. Whatever feelings have developed between them, neither appreciates discovering that their parents have been manipulating the situation from the beginning.
Lexi doesn’t have much time to stay angry. Her business partner can’t make it to Breckenridge to help with the holiday party, leaving Lexi to pull everything together herself. She falls straight back into organizing mode, with everyone pitching in to help. Even the snowboarders are recruited as waiters.
Meanwhile, Ridge finally tells Dan how he feels. For as long as he can remember, his father has criticized every aspect of his life. He also makes one thing very clear: Dan didn’t need to trick him into liking Lexi.
June tries to repair things with her daughter as well, but Lexi isn’t ready to forgive her quite so quickly.
Does the Holiday Party Bring Everyone Back Together?
Despite the personal drama, Lexi’s holiday party is a success.
June and Dan, however, start arguing. Both feel guilty that their plan has damaged their relationships with their children, so Lexi and Ridge step in again.
Each dances with the other’s parent, reminding June and Dan why their differences work. They’re opposites, but those differences are also what allow them to balance each other.
June and Dan return the favor during those dances, encouraging Lexi and Ridge to give their own relationship a real chance.
Dan and Ridge finally have the conversation they needed. Dan explains that he never meant to make Ridge feel as though he didn’t trust him. After losing his wife, he realizes he held on too tightly to both his son and the resort. Father and son agree to do better going forward. Lexi and June make peace as well.
By the end of the holiday party, Dan is ready for an even bigger change. He announces that he is passing the baton to Ridge and entering semi-retirement. His plans for all that new free time? Traveling the world with June.
‘Tis the Season for Setups Ending Explained: Do Lexi and Ridge End Up Together?
Christmas morning brings one more surprise for everyone. Piper finally gets the boots and snowboard she wanted, courtesy of her mother and grandmother.
Dan has something much bigger planned for June. In front of everyone, he proposes, and she says yes.
Ridge arrives, but only briefly. He says he has a lesson he can’t turn down and leaves, which clearly disappoints Lexi.
This time, Piper pushes her mother to take a chance. She tells Lexi not to run away from the possibility of being happy with Ridge when there is clearly something between them. Outside the lodge, Lexi finds a set of skis and a card from Ridge asking her to give him a ski lesson; she accepts.
Lexi meets Ridge on the mountain, and the two kiss before racing each other down to the bottom, Ridge on his snowboard and Lexi on her skis.
The ending completes both setups, although neither relationship really works because of the matchmaking.
Ridge’s final invitation also brings their first meeting full circle. He initially mistakes Lexi for someone coming to him for a snowboard lesson and quickly decides she’s too uptight for it. By the end, he’s the one asking her for a ski lesson.
Lexi accepts, and the movie ends with the two kissing before racing down the mountain together.
