Emily Taylor is a humble and kindhearted seamstress devoted to her family's business in Philadelphia. She is also in love with her European boyfriend Leo James. As the Christmas season approaches, Leo reveals that he is in fact Prince Leopold, heir to the throne of a small sovereign country called Cordinia, which is loosely based on Monaco (but amalgamates the place names, Corsica and Sardinia). He takes Emily back to his country for the Christmas holidays and introduces her to his mother Isadora, Queen of Cordinia, who disapproves of the young American immediately. Wanting her son to marry a duchess named Natasha—Leo's ex-girlfriend—whom she finds more suitable than a commoner, the Queen goes out of her way to make Emily feel unwelcome at their castle.