Plot Synopsis

Flash Frozen Foods International corporate development executive Maggie Young has come up with a great idea, and the company's tough CEO Andrea is all for it. Maggie will approach local Seattle chef Hank Daniels and convince him to develop a line of gourmet frozen meals for the company. Hank owns and operates a one-star restaurant, Osteria, and enjoys a great business there. A true chef who always insists on the best local ingredients, he would rather die before committing his recipes to frozen food entrees, but when his restaurant suffers the loss of its critical star following a disastrous visit by a restaurant critic, he agrees to the deal. The widowed dad of a 15-year-old, his restaurant, along with daughter Hannah, is his whole life. But discovering that the business is failing, he is determined to get it back on track while developing the frozen food recipes. Maggie, at first simply committed to help him resurrect the restaurant so that he can focus on the frozen food recipes, effectively takes on Osteria's management and soon embarks on return the place to its former glory. Working closely with Hank, she soon finds her icy, professional exterior melting away. When Andrea decides to expand the gourmet frozen food idea in a different direction, she orders Maggie to bring the deal with Hank to halt, cutting deeply into his anticipated earnings. Without the additional cash infusion, the restaurant is once again on the line. Furious at Maggie for what he feels was "playing him" just to make her business deal, he sends her packing and faces his very uncertain future, despite what are genuine feelings for her. Maggie, disillusioned and disgusted by the way Andrea ended the deal with Hank, comes up with her own plan to save Osteria. Unless Hank agrees, however, they will lose a lot more than the restaurant; they will lose the opportunity for love that has eluded them both for so long.