Vanessa is looking for a Christmas miracle after losing a treasured family heirloom. But when her search leads her to love instead, she begins to wonder if she didn’t get her miracle after all. The Christmas Ring, based on the novel by bestselling author Karen Kingsbury, is full of messages about grief, faith, joy and love.
On D-Day in 1944, paratrooper Bill Bailey got stuck in enemy territory after the wind blew his parachute off course. Lost and without his gear, Bill feared for his life—until he found a ring sparkling in the undergrowth.
Finding something so beautiful in such an unlikely place gave Bill hope. It helped him to believe he’d make it out alive, that he’d see another Christmas, that he’d have a chance at love.
Bill was right. He survived the war, lived to see another Christmas and even met the love of his life, giving her the ring. Decades later, the “Christmas Ring,” as Bill called it, has been passed from one generation of his family to the next as a symbol of family, home and divine protection.
Now the Christmas Ring belongs to Bill’s great-granddaughter, Vanessa Mayfield.
Or at least, it did.
Unfortunately, Vanessa lost the ring while skiing in Colorado with her daughter, Sadie. It’s been three years, but Vanessa hasn’t given up hope. She’s still scouring antique stores, praying for a miracle.
And that’s how Vanessa meets Ben Miller. He and his dad, Howard, own one of those antique shops. Ben and Vanessa quickly become friends … and perhaps something more.
Vanessa’s friends think it’s romantic—that her lost ring would lead her to love. But Vanessa isn’t so sure: She lost her husband, Alan, just four years ago. She’s still grieving. And she isn’t sure how Sadie will feel about her mom moving on.
Ben understands. He’s a widower himself. But perhaps the Christmas Ring will lead to a Christmas miracle after all.
You need to know when to hold onto the past and when to let it go, Vanessa says. She’s been holding on to the Christmas Ring—or at least, the memory of it—for several years now, but her budding relationship with Ben helps her realizes that she’s been holding on to Alan as well.
Sadie, too, has been clinging to memories of her dad. However, seeing her mom so happy with Ben makes her realize that her dad never would have wanted her mom to be alone. Moreover, she understands that Ben won’t remove Alan from their lives. They’ll always love and miss him. Sadie shares this with her mom, and it helps Vanessa to accept that, perhaps, it really is time to let go of the past.
Similarly, when Ben finds happiness with Vanessa, he finally finds the courage to move on from his own loss. He and Vanessa are both very respectful of each other’s late spouses—they talk about Alan and Laura (Ben’s late wife) frequently, fondly reminiscing—and that mutual respect strengthens their bond.
Vanessa and Sadie share a close bond, but they’ve been feeling a bit disconnected since Sadie went off to college. The film’s lessons about letting go of the past are dually applied here, as the mother-daughter duo learns how to cope with this change and move into this new phase of life.
Ben and Howard also share a close bond, and while there are a few misunderstandings between father and son, they apologize for their mistakes and harsh words, and their relationship grows stronger than ever.
Alan was in the Army. After he died, Vanessa founded a charity in her hometown to support military families. She organizes a dance to celebrate service members. She also arranges for 100 donors to sponsor 100 military families over the holidays, providing those families with money, gifts and food. At one holiday charity event, a widower tells Vanessa it’s the first time he’s seen his daughter smile since her mom died overseas.
We hear that Alan loved his country. He didn’t plan to make a career in the military, but when duty called, he set aside his earlier dreams and continued to serve.
Volunteers, including Vanessa, help an elderly woman from their church after she breaks her ankle.
Most of the characters we meet here are Christians. And indeed, Ben’s faith is one of the things that draws Vanessa to him. Ben volunteers his time to help Vanessa’s charity (which is sponsored by her church). He tells the Christmas story (from Luke 2) to a group of children. He and Vanessa attend church together. They talk about praying throughout the film.
Vanessa is seen reading her Bible in the morning—a pastime that Sadie says has become a treasured memory, something she misses seeing when she’s away at college. Vanessa also wears a cross necklace. We hear that Sadie’s dad loved the Lord.
Sadie and Vanessa talk about how when Sadie was a little girl, anytime she got scared, she would pretend it was her teddy bear that was scared. To make him (really herself) feel better, she’d tell the bear about Jesus and pray with him. She tells her boyfriend, Hudson (who is an Army Ranger deployed overseas), that she prays for him daily.
The most impactful faith connection perhaps comes from Howard. He tells Ben that Jesus’ birth—the moment our Savior made it possible for us to join Him in heaven—is the whole point of Christmas. And he and Ben believe that they’ll see Ben’s mom, who passed away just a few years back, in heaven someday.
Howard acts selfishly for a time, putting earthly desires above heavenly ones. A sign in his shop is printed with the words of Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” When Howard realizes his mistake, he pointedly reads this sign. He apologizes for his actions, making a personal sacrifice in order to bring someone else joy: “The best gift is eternal,” he says.
We hear several Christian Christmas carols. We spot a few Nativity scenes around Vanessa’s town. A man dressed as Santa looks at one of these and then seemingly offers praises to God, raising his hands to the heavens.
Vanessa and Ben flirt and eventually date. They share several kisses (and interrupted near-kisses), dance and hug. We see another young couple kiss and hug as well. Several couples dance together. We hear that an elderly married couple has been in love since they were 16 years old. A couple of women comment on Ben’s good looks.
Vanessa tells Ben that Alan was an army medic. Alan died while trying to help a fellow soldier: They hit a roadside bomb. Vanessa says her friends Leigh and Maria are also “Gold Star widows,” meaning their spouses died in the line of duty.
During a video call between Hudson and Sadie, sirens go off. Hudson hurriedly signs off, and Sadie doesn’t hear from him for several days, missing their next scheduled call. She and her mom worry for his safety. (He’s ultimately OK.)
Vanessa narrates how her great-grandfather was one of the soldiers who parachuted into France on D-Day.
We hear a woman broke her ankle falling off a ladder, and she’s later seen wearing a cast and riding a scooter.
None, but we hear “Oh my gosh” a couple of times.
None.
Ben shares with Vanessa that his wife, Laura, learned that she was unable to have children early on in their marriage. She received a terminal diagnosis not long after that.
A woman calls up her friend to gossip. A barista is a bit rude to Ben, calling him “Vanessa” (since Ben was picking up Vanessa’s order) and causing a bystander to give Ben weird looks. We hear that many people have offered to help Vanessa find the lost Christmas Ring—but only because she has offered a $2,500 reward for its return.
“It’s hard to move on,” Ben’s dad, Howard, says. But that’s what The Christmas Ring is all about—learning to move on from grief with joy in your heart.
It isn’t easy for Vanessa or Ben to let go of their pasts, but their faith in God—their belief that He has a purpose in bringing them together—allows them to embrace each other with love and joy. Moreover, it helps them to guide other family members (Sadie and Howard) through the process of grief as well.
This Karen Kingsbury adaptation is about as Hallmark-y as it gets. (In fact, Hallmark produced the first Christmas Ring film adaptation back in 2020.) There’s almost no concerning content here. We do hear a bit about how Ben and Vanessa lost their spouses. Sadie goes through a bit of a scare when she doesn’t hear from her boyfriend (who is serving overseas) for a few days. And the connection to military families can, at times, pull on the heartstrings.
However, The Christmas Ring isn’t bitter: It’s heartwarming. There are some sad moments, yes. But this film aims to leave audiences with nice feelings about faith, hope, joy and love.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
