A troubled, colorblind little girl makes a Santa Chair that grants wishes for others to save her mom’s tiny mountain town café from closing before Christmas. [Optioned 04/19/23; no longer available. In Post-Production]

SYNOPSIS:

GINGER PAISLEY (late-30s) runs the small, Mountain Café and Gift Shop on property about to be sold to the highest bidder. Her bright but sarcastic daughter, HANNAH (9) sees nothing good coming from Christmas, partly because she is colorblind, benefiting less from the Christmas decorations all around her. MR. RANKER (60s), the Scrooge-like landlord, demands the rent by Christmas Eve, prior to the land auction, further stressing Ginger and Hannah. Café employees include the cook, DENNY GRANT (18), a handsome football player, and waitress, ANGELA ESTEVEZ (18), a Mexican beauty, who is a better cook than Denny. Regular Patrons include Denny’s father, SHERIFF GRANT (40s), and a jolly Asian, ALBERT CHONG (60), a UPS driver and maker of Adirondack chairs. Everyone’s lives change when handsome Episcopal Pastor, LOUIS GAUTHIER (early-40s), and raggedy son RAPHAEL (13) roll up from Quebec, Canada in a broken-down RV. The visitors get off to a rough start. Louis has a demanding ex-wife, and other troubles of his own.

Business is bad, so Hannah creates a “Santa Chair” by folding a six-foot-tall cardboard Santa into one of Albert’s Adirondack chairs. The Santa Chair fails to deliver Hannah’s and Raphael’s selfish wishes. Hannah and Raphael soon realize that the Santa Chair magically glows red when you wish something good for another person.

Things turn worse when Louis’s gorgeous ex-wife, BREA (40), arrives to partake in the land auction. She lures Raphael away for the night to the nearby ski resort, so he can snowboard and bunk in a deluxe estate instead of a decrepit RV. Louis gets special Enchroma glasses delivered by Albert to correct Hannah’s vision of colors. It’s heartwarming when Hannah tries them on, sees colors denied her entire life, then hands the glasses back. She sees all the colors of Christmas without them.

Ginger hits another rough patch when she learns Louis is participating in the land auction. He explains that he wants the best for Raphael, but Ginger worries about Hannah’s future, too. Ginger persists. Things begin to turn around for the café. She finds that Louis’s French roast coffee is a marked improvement over her coffee. She borrows Louis’s satellite Wi-Fi system, and promotes Angela to head cook. Business picks up, just as the land auction takes place.

Hannah and Raphael add a second Santa Chair, where they wish away. In a turn of events, Brea loves the new food offerings at the café, and she and Louis are the only ones bidding at the land auction. Mr. Ranker is stunned when they lower the bid, and Louis gets the property for a steal. After a series of heartwarming wishes from the Santa Chairs, it appears that Ginger and Pastor Louis are falling in love.

SANTA'S CHAIRS