The story of witty and introspective Adam (Charlie Plummer), who appears to be your typical young adult - a little unkempt with raging hormones and excited about a future pursuing his dream of becoming a chef. Expelled halfway through his senior year following an incident in chemistry class, Adam is diagnosed with a mental illness. Sent to a Catholic academy to finish out his term, Adam has little hope of fitting in and just wants to keep his illness secret until he can enroll in culinary school. But when he meets outspoken and fiercely intelligent Maya (Taylor Russell), there is an instant soulful and comforting connection. As their romance deepens, she inspires him to open his heart and not be defined by his condition. Now, with the love and support of his girlfriend and family, Adam is hopeful for the very first time that he can see the light and triumph over the challenges that lie ahead.

Imperfect High is the story of Hanna Brooks (Sioux), the new girl in town who is looking to find her place and fit in at Lakewood High School, which was rocked a couple of years earlier by the shocking drug overdose of a popular student. Hanna suffers from an anxiety disorder and the move to a new school is especially stressful for her. While trying to fit in with the "it" crowd, she finds herself pulled between two boys - a bad boy with a heart of gold, and an alluring, popular rich kid who is not as straight of an arrow as he seems. Her relationship with them sweeps her into a dangerous situation that her mother Deborah (Shepherd) must fight to save her from.

Ashley has been on her own all her life. She feels even more alone this Christmas as she searches fruitlessly for a job. The seasonal cheer around her only rubs salt in her wounds as she scrapes by to support herself and her dog, Dash. But her neighbor Nick offers her a job as his assistant in the best work: helping others. There's one catch that Ashley must honor though: she can't tell anyone that her new boss is a sort of Secret Santa, helping others anonymously. Through her new job, Ashley meets Will, a writer for a business magazine who uncovers what Ashley is doing--and, more importantly, Nick's involvement. As Ashley and Nick help people in need, Ashley tries to protect Nick's secret, and her own heart, while Will must weigh the consequences of what he does.

Thirty-seven year old Maggie Turner's cutthroat approach, what is expected of her by her boss Malcom Baxter, and winning results look like they will be leading to her imminently making junior partner at the prestigious Chicago law firm where she works. This promotion coincides with her parents Estelle and George Hartman's fortieth wedding anniversary in their hometown of Elmhurst, attending which will be a working trip for Maggie, work which occupies any spare time she has. What she doesn't see or thus realize is that her schoolteacher husband, Josh Turner, who she met in high school but the two who didn't start dating until late in college, is the casualty in her life, he who tells her that he wonders if they should have gotten married at all in feeling like he is an afterthought to her, a possible permanent split which they will discuss when they return to Chicago after the anniversary party. A series of associated events leads to Maggie waking up the next morning only to discover that she has gone back exactly fifteen years in time to the end of college, just before she and Josh would have started dating. Beyond trying to figure out what's going on - her only confidante being her shy geek of a brother, Ash Hartman - Maggie may have a second chance to do it right, which she believes is two parts: saving the historic Elmhurst Library, the failure that first time around which led to her and Josh getting together, success in this matter which would free her emotionally from the pain of Josh to allow her to marry wealthy Rick Morgan, her boyfriend through most of college, the two who seemed to be well on their way to becoming a proverbial power couple. But Maggie's best laid plan, knowing what she knows from the first time, may not end the way she thinks.

Chicago-based public school art teacher Clara Bingham is heading home to Fayetteville, North Carolina for the Christmas holidays to help her mother, Bonnie Bingham, at the family store, Candy Cane Confectionary, following the recent death of its founder and co-operator, Clara's paternal grandfather Jerry Bingham. Clara is sad not to have had the opportunity to say her goodbyes to him, he who largely shaped her life, especially his philosophy that one's wishes are what is in one's heart spoken aloud. Before heading to Fayetteville, Clara unexpectedly discovers two things: that her schoolteacher boyfriend, Blake, was about to propose to her, something that left her feeling fearful rather than joyous, and he not having done so only on circumstance of the time; and that despite being named one of her school's teachers of the year, she is being laid off at the end of this school year in cuts to the arts program and she not having seniority. The Binghams' collective stories are shaped by Fayetteville being adjacent to Fort Bragg: Jerry served in the Korean War, Clara's father/Bonnie's husband was killed in battle overseas, and Clara's first love, Logan, was also in the army. It wasn't the fact that Logan was shipped overseas that led to them breaking up, but that he had already acted on the unilateral decision to enlist before he told her. In Fayetteville, Clara runs into Logan, who, after reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, left active duty a year ago and is now a reservist. Clara and Logan end up spending much time together, partly in they sleuthing together in Clara's discovery of a journal Jerry kept when he was a young man, it talking about a love with an unknown woman named Martha, i.e. she not being who ended as Clara's grandmother. In a spark still existing between the Clara and Logan, what happens between them is affected by what they discover regarding Jerry's romance with Martha, and Clara learning about the story of Jay, the awkward young man Clara hired on a whim to help at the store.