Five women, working together to create a church cookbook, share their passions, loves, and losses, including pastor Charlotte Stewart, who is suffering a crisis in faith ; widow Margaret, the town confidante; and Jessie, the only African American in an all-white church.

Despite their excitement over a cake-cookbook idea, Louise Fisher, Beatrice Newgarden and Jessie Jenkins hope to give Margaret Steele, whose cancer has returned, her Christmas wish by taking her to see Charlotte Stewart, the former Hope Spring pastor, in Texas.

As the women of Hope Springs, North Carolina, try to find the perfect marriage material for their long-distance friend, they find that the subject of marriage seems to be affecting each of their own lives.

The new bonds of friendship and unity enjoyed by the ladies of Hope Springs Church are challenged by Margaret's sudden illness, Nadine's grief over her lost daughter, Charlotte's crisis of faith, and Jessie's fierce desire to see the world outside the boundaries of her small town.