Cinderella Story Franchise Gets Christmas Wish Installment

A CINDERELLA STORY has blossomed into a successful storytelling franchise, with so sign of the stroke of midnight anywhere in sight. A CINDERELLA STORY: CHRISTMAS WISH continues the streak, setting the familiar Cinderella trope against a holiday backdrop.

The Cinderella of this story is Kat Decker (AUSTIN & ALLY's LAURA MARANO), who works during the day as a Santaland elf and a singing Christmas-gram delivery girl. When she's off work, she's still working, as her stepmother and stepsisters keep her slaving away at home. JOHANNAH NEWMARCH (Hallmark's WHEN CALLS THE HEART) vamps it up as attention-hungry stepmother, Dierdre Decker, who never wastes a moment to tear down Kat's dreams of becoming a songwriter. Kat's sisters, Joy (LILLIAN DOUCET-ROCHE, THE MIRACLE SEASON) and Grace (CHANELLE PELOSO) are the exact opposites of their names: Grace is whining and inelegant, and Joy's only joy comes from the misery of other people and the attention she can get for herself on her blog, the latest entry of which features an overworked Kat carrying their shopping packages and accidentally spilling coffee all over the handsome Dominic Wintergarden (GREGG SULKIN, MARVEL'S RUNAWAYS).

However, fate takes a different turn for Kat when she finds herself working alongside Dominic at the Santaland holiday center, owned by Dominic's father, Terence (RIVERDALE's BARCLAY HOPE). However, with Kat in her elf costume, and Dominic -- who goes by Nick -- picking up the family tradition of playing Santa, neither of them recognizes each other. Through their interactions at work, they get close to each other, until Nick absolutely must know who the girl is behind the pink hair and elfin ears.

Naturally there is a ball -- a Christmas gala, in this case -- held by the Wintergarden family, which the stepmother wheedles her way into when she discovers Terence Wintergarden and her ex-husband were best friends and world explorers together. Her plan is to pass Joy off as Kat, whom Terence hasn't seen since she was four years old, and then doing everything she can to make herself attractive to the widower billionaire. Kat is also invited, personally, by Dominic, but when Deirdre discovers this, she burns the invitation.

Fortunately for Kat, she has a fairy godmother, in the form of her best friend Isla (ISABELLA GOMEZ), who is a talented costumer and ardent supporter of Kat's musical talents.

A beloved snow globe, musical numbers, and Christmas magic all come together to make A CINDERELLA STORY: CHRISTMAS WISH a film that will make it into your regular rotation, particularly for those who find themselves glued to Hallmark and Lifetime during the last three months of the year.