Life sentence

Eight very different couples deal with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London.

A drama about a Maori family living in Auckland, New Zealand. Lee Tamahori tells the story of Beth Heke’s strong will to keep her family together during times of unemployment and abuse from her violent and alcoholic husband.

Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.

Esteemed astrophysicist Kat, scheduled for her first trip into space but sidelined due to an accident, meets a new man at the local planetarium. Together, they must work hard to open a new exhibit by Christmas.

When Ms. Christmas, a shopping channel host, receives a terminal diagnosis, she heads on a multi-city excursion to spread Christmas cheer.

Copy editor Lea and pragmatic reporter Mark head to France to learn about a mysterious artist behind a romantic Christmas painting.

A college professor connects with a guide dog trainer after losing his eyesight and adopting a seeing eye dog.

Three couples at different parts of life navigate big turning points in their lives over the holidays.

Inspired by Mickey Guyton’s song of the same name, “Heaven Down Here” tells the story of four disparate people who find themselves stranded in a local diner on Christmas Eve when a snowstorm hits the town.

Carley is determined to get through her list of abandoned resolutions from last year and enlists the help of coworker Wyatt.

Distraught over losing his son, Nick finds closure and discovers a new purpose when he takes on the role of Santa Claus.

Debbie, a working class single mother from Leeds, moves her family to Bradford, where they find themselves in an ethnic minority. Daughter Leah must adapt to being the only white girl at school.

David begins to spiral after learning a terrible truth on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve in New York, and the lonely divorced publisher, Rose Collins, needs a miracle to improve the health of her mother, interned in a hospital with Alzheimers. She feels sorry for another patient and meets his visitor. Meanwhile, Nina Vasquez breaks her engagement with her beloved fiancé Mike due to his suffocating jealousy, but misses him. Mike is stalked by a stranger, bartender Artie Venzuela. The poor Jules arranges to spend Christmas Eve in the hospital, where he spent the best Christmas of his life when he was a teenager. The lives of some of these characters cross with others along the night.

After she and her husband lose their jobs, a former Texas homecoming queen inadvertently finds herself in the middle of a prostitution ring after she unknowingly accepts a position at a massage parlor.

A penniless pregnant woman adopts the identity of a rich woman killed in a train crash.

An oil company is exploring two Arctic sites for oil. The needed blasting at the first site rocks Santa Claus' North Pole village. He realizes that any blasting at the second site will destroy his home. He enlists the aid of a woman and her children to convince her husband (who works for the company) that the first site is where the oil they want is. Along the way, Santa explains all his secrets in delivering presents all around the world.

A teen who feels ignored by her family makes a Christmas wish to be listened to, then wakes up and discovers she can only tell the whole truth.

A trio of children steal a fir tree for a Christmas tree from a grouchy neighbor and later resolve to make amends.

The daughter of a country singer finds forgiveness and love when she loses her job at a record label and is urged to reunite with her famous father as his road manager.