LOL, I know what you mean.
I was just talking to someone the other day about how these movies are all so similar.
The typical plot is, how some busy single career woman, with a high powered professional career in some big city, returns to her small town hometown for Christmas, and she starts getting involved with a man there, and she realizes there is more to life than her career.
And there are some variations, such as, the man might be an old high school boyfriend, and there is a history there. In that case, the old high school boyfriend is single himself, so there are possibilities with him.
Or perhaps the man owns a ranch, and she realizes how much she loves the animals he has, and she dreams of the life she could have, if only she gets out of the rat race in the big city.
Basic template: Person A has a lifestyle which they had not questioned, but then they have an opportunity to re-examine their life and realize that they could find greater happiness by making a big change with Person B.
In a different world, you might see a movie with a Big City Lesbian coming home for Christmas and finding herself actually attracted to the guy who runs the hardware store.
Of course, no one would make a movie with that plot today. Certainly not Hallmark.
Ah, potential for future diversity.
‘In that case, the old high school boyfriend is single himself, so there are possibilities with him.’
or the guy’s wife died, you know the way twenty something women normally do, and he has some precocious child, generally a girl, that works ceaselessly to bring them together...and the guy is generally what women would call a perfect ten, and yet somehow is not attracted to any of the local girls...
‘Or perhaps the man owns a ranch...’
or he runs a christmas tree farm for a living, supporting himself and daughter and a dog on the income from a month long venture; and she realizes that her high level job in the affluent city is just smoke and mirrors compared to the life in her backwater home town with Mr. Perfect and his little brat and all the quirky, inquisitive townfolk...