Project Christmas Wish
Lucy plays Santa for her small town. Granting a little girl’s Christmas wish brings her closer to wishes of her own.
Explore the filmThese films give their communities a part in the story.

Lucy plays Santa for her small town. Granting a little girl’s Christmas wish brings her closer to wishes of her own.
Explore the film
Rated 7.4. Small-town photographer Ceci (Kimberley Sustad) saves a mysterious crash victim (Mark Ghanime) who may be in town to buy her family's parkland, the very spot where Harmony Bay holds its annual Christmas celebration. It is a save-the-tradition story, complete with a boot-stealing dog and a town obsessed with one specific local burger. Cozy, a touch mysterious, and built on exactly the kind of community ritual these towns run on. A solid contemporary holiday watch.

After receiving an honorable discharge, a former Marine suffers a minor car accident that strands her in a small town for the Christmas season.

A best-selling author who got amnesia as a result of a car accident finds refuge with the local doctor of an idyllic small town in Vermont.

Two squabbling TV hosts are sent to a festive small town over Christmas. While pretending to get along for the sake of appearances, they discover there's more to each other than they thought.

For years Lucy has played Santa in her small-town community. As she grants a little girl's wish for a Christmas like it used to be, she unexpectedly finds her own wishes coming true.

A podcast host becomes interested in a cold-case disappearance, mostly because she and the victim had grown up together in their small town.

A baker in small-town Minnesota turns amateur sleuth after finding her friend and delivery driver shot to death behind her shop.

A barroom brawl sends Julia and Sydney from their Wyoming weekend into community service in town. Julia’s sentence brings her to the Thomas family ranch, where she meets Ben and gets involved in the family’s plans.

A high-flying female novelist from New York takes a trip to the small town that inspired her latest best-seller.

Returning to USA after WWII, Noah goes wandering and angling. He comes to a small town and valley to catch a huge bass. He meets a cute widow and other good people there.

A snowstorm sends Allie back to Evergreen, Vermont, where she joins the town’s Christmas festival effort. As local traditions and a determined mayor bring neighbors together, Allie gets to know Ryan, a widowed doctor, and his daughter, Zoe.

Life is turned upside down for a small town mayor when a famous actress arrives to shoot her new Christmas movie.

Nicknamed Miss Christmas, the official tree finder for Chicago's renowned Radcliffe Tree lighting is left desperate to find the perfect tree. A letter from a young boy promising his tree is perfect sends her to a small town where she learns the young boy's dad isn't willing to part with his tree. While sparks fly, she'll be forced to confront what she's really been missing for Christmas.

As Christmas nears, heiress Jessica Morgan seizes what seems like her last chance to experience a relaxed Christmas and heads off to the small town of Glenbrooke, where she meets a handsome firefighter.

Carly heads to a small town to lead a church choir at Christmastime, facing her first holiday season without her mother. While there, she connects with a man back in town after serving in the Army.

Following a car accident which leaves her with a bout of amnesia, a celebrity chef gets stranded in a small town over the Christmas season.

A corporate agent is sent to a small town to buy a cookie company and shut down its factory. When she starts falling in love with the factory's owner, the town's Christmas spirit over takes her.

A wrong turn brings Maddie to Christmas Valley, a town devoted to the holiday. The people she meets there begin to feel like family and prompt her to rethink what she has been missing.

Joy takes over chairing Christmas Valley's annual Cookie Crawl, a walking tour where neighbors share cookies and compete for a prize wreath. The town tradition draws her into work with Ben and keeps her aunt focused on recovery.

Sean, who runs a New York City advertising agency, and Owen, a small-town handyman and musician, swap residences for the holidays. Mia, who works for Sean, helps Owen get settled into his new apartment while Ryan, sent by Owen to fix a broken heater, helps Sean find the charm of living in a small town. Owen, a fish-out-of-water in the big city, tries to flirt with Halo, an aspiring model/actress/singer who lives in the apartment building. One night after Mia has shown Owen around town, Halo sees him entering the elevator wearing clothes borrowed from Sean's closet. Thinking he's rich, Halo flirts back and sets up a date. Mia, however, warns him that she just thinks he has money because he's living in Sean's apartment and wearing Sean's clothes. On the day of the big date, Owen realizes who he really is and what he really wants in life. Meanwhile, Sean is falling in love with the local veterinarian, who happens to be harboring a big secret--or two. He's surprised when his ex-fiancee' appears on his doorstep, ready to accept his marriage proposal and move back to New York with him. This complicates Sean's blossoming relationship with the small-town girl who has told him that her career as a veterinarian relies on her staying where she is, and to simply enjoy their love while it lasts. On Christmas Eve, Sean invites Owen to come back for a special dinner, where a surprise awaits all of them.

Annie Cooper has big shoes to fill when she takes over as CEO of her late grandmother's small-town cookie company.

A high-flying New York event planner is sent to a quaint small town to organize their Christmas festival.

An aspiring crafter working in her small town's bakery shows the new big-city CEO that it's people and not machines which make the business a success.

A small-town girl who moved to New York to pursue her dreams returns home for the holidays, only to realize that maybe her dreams aren't miles away, but right in her hometown.

A resort developer tasked with finding a location for a new ski resort is assigned to visit the small town of Christmas, Colorado.

Anne seems to have it all as a driven toy buyer in New York City, but her father's retirement signaling the closing of the town's beloved toy store brings the city girl back to her small-town roots.

A corporate executive is sent to a small town to re-brand a restaurant as part of a strategic acquisition. However, the iconic diner happens to be in her hometown where she hasn't been in years, and the owner is her high school sweetheart.

A widow attempts to reopen her late-uncle's old dilapidated small town movie theater for one last Christmas screening.

After her life in New York unexpectedly falls apart, powerhouse stockbroker Sam Wallace returns to her small town for the holidays and reconnects with her high school sweetheart who helps reignite her humanitarian spirit just in time to help their community on Christmas.

In the small town of Seacliff, Wash., a child's letter to Santa Claus captures the nation's attention. When the little boy, Chris, writes that he wishes to leave this world so he will no longer be a burden to his divorcing parents, a race begins to find him before he harms himself.

When a small-town boy's video Promposal goes viral, it scores him a Prom date with his celebrity crush. Complications arise when the celebrity falls for the boy's teacher.

PR crisis manager Deidre and her assistant Mandy fly in when rebellious royal Prince Colin is arrested in small-town Idaho. But when Deidre faces her own fiasco, Mandy finds herself with unexpected career (and romantic) opportunities.

While on air, a TV personality accidentally admits she hates Christmas. When she goes to a small town to film a special to repair her image, the Christmas spirit begins to change her life.

Wedding planner Jessica Perez travels to a remote town in Alaska to find a rare flower for a celebrity client and is charmed by the small town during Christmas, as well as by the handsome local helping her.

A divorced writer goes to a picture-perfect small town to get over her writer's block and ends up falling in love with the town of Mitford, its inhabitants, and its most eligible bachelor, the handsome Episcopal priest who lives next door.

Melanie and Jake follow a path of twists and turns till they uncover the shocking truth of Melanie's missing childhood friend Tony in her small town of Cherry Springs.

Ambitious big city reporter arrives in a small town to write about its legendary wishing well. She writes a shoddy article, thinking it's all a joke, but throws in a coin and wishes to be happy, just for the fun of it. Magic happens.

Heidi (Osment), who initially left her small town of Pleasant Valley with the dream of one day becoming a successful painter, has put her own art on hold to excel as an art gallery curator. Now, a week before the gallery's big Christmas party, she must return home to watch her niece and nephew. She comes face to face with her high school love, Chris, now a teacher, who is in over his head after he must find a new last-minute location for the Christmas dance. Heidi offers to help him and together they discover a beautiful place for the dance, perfectly capturing the Christmas spirit, called Wonderland Farms. The more time Heidi spends in Pleasant Valley decorating for the Christmas SnowBall, the more she finds herself inspired to start painting again. With Christmas fast approaching, Heidi soon becomes torn between the life she built in the city and the life she is surprisingly charmed by back in Pleasant Valley, embracing her true passion.

A married couple having a hard time connecting check into a cozy inn in a small town during the holiday season.

Crime series actress Hadley Warner retires to a small town where she encounters her first real case. Using her TV crime knowledge, she teams up with Detective Shawn Caden to solve the case. Starring Lyndie Greenwood and Luke Macfarlane.
40 movies · Updated 2026-09-26
A small town or close-knit community must be a meaningful setting for the action. The list follows saved IMDb average rating, with vote counts available on each film.
The town does some of the storytelling here. Its residents, businesses or shared events give the characters a reason to stay, return or work together. These films use a small community as a meaningful setting, not just a hometown in someone's backstory.
No. The town needs to shape the action through its people, work or shared events.