Twelve-year-old Rowena Clybourne lives with her older sister Gabriella and their divorced mother, and she is about to celebrate her first Christmas since the split, with her father Mike and his girlfriend Diane arriving, along with her Uncle Gerry and Bruce, as well as grandparents and Abuela Sofia visiting the house. The tension in the air is thick, and the day quickly spirals into a cascade of mishaps: Louie, her father’s son, terrifies Rowena by barging in after football, her father plays catch with Louie while their Uncle’s dog Olive pees on Rowena’s baseball glove, and Uncle Bruce slips on used wrapping paper that Rowena had left on the ground, ultimately breaking his neck. When Louie keeps turning off the TV so Rowena can’t watch an Elves vs Santa hockey game, an argument erupts and she storms outside.
Outside, a tall Santa Claus appears, and Rowena confesses that she feels the Christmas celebration has gone off the rails and wishes to start over. The tall visitor grants her wish, and the next morning she discovers it’s still Christmas. Yet something strange has happened: the day keeps resetting, repeating itself over and over. With a mixture of awe and resolve, Rowena realizes she can do anything she wants within the confines of the endless day, and she decides to make the most of it.
What follows is a lively, yearned-for montage of adventures. Rowena orders a limo driven by Tall Santa to whisk her to winter joys: sledding down sparkling slopes, a bustling winter carnival, a raucous Elves vs Santa hockey game where she even dons a Santa suit to play, and a museum’s Christmas exhibit that invites curiosity and wonder. She also gleefully visits favorite spots, replays moments from her family’s celebrations, and tests the boundaries of this perpetual holiday while keeping track of the gifts her family bought the day before. She begins to understand her relatives more deeply, asking pointed questions about their lives and recalling every detail from the previous day.
During one of these repeated days, she encounters Tall Santa again at a hockey game and opens up about reliving her favorite Christmas memories. He explains that although their family has changed, they can still be together on Christmas if she chooses to create new memories and recognize that her parents will always love her, even as they navigate divorce. With that realization, Rowena sets out to bring her family back together by reconstructing their first Christmas together.
Her plan is intricate and full of mischief but guided by care: removing distractions that threaten the moment, coaxing Diane to sneeze from a cat fur that turns out to be a lost cat’s fur, letting Olive run free so the uncles scatter, and keeping Louie occupied with a laptop in the bathroom. As she tinkers with the past and present, she discovers that her actions influence the mood of the family and the spirit of the holiday itself. The day continues to cycle, and Rowena leans into compassion and patience, listening to her sister Gabriella—who shares her own memories and fears about change—and learns that their parents’ divorce doesn’t erase love from their lives.
Over time, Rowena begins to celebrate Christmas through acts of generosity: inviting a Mariachi Band to perform, learning Judo to defend a local charity from a bully, ensuring a marriage proposal stays on course, collecting charity money, reuniting a lost cat with its family, and tidying up the mess of used wrapping paper so no one trips on it. The family visits grow warmer as friends and neighbors stop by to thank Rowena for her kindness, and she even gifts Gabriella a tablet bought with her own savings. Through these deeds, Rowena comes to understand that Christmas is not about clinging to tradition but about cherishing the people you love.
She tells her mom about the lesson she learned from reading A Christmas Carol and realizes she is no longer afraid of letting new people into her life. The holiday ends with a heartfelt chorus as the family sings Christmas carols together, and Rowena acknowledges that the magic of the day lies in closeness and shared moments, not in perfection.
Yet as the new Christmas dawns, Louie wakes Rowena and Tall Santa arrives again with a twist: a “Second Chance” naughty list that bears Rowena’s name no more. The limo transforms into a sleigh and the magical renewal comes to a close, leaving Rowena with a poignant goodbye to her father, Diane, Louie, and the promise that love endures beyond the calendar. It is a farewell that feels like the end of a long, magical chapter, and Rowena steps forward grateful for a Christmas that taught her to value family above all else.
