Four Christmases

Brad McVie and Kate Kinkaid are a happily unmarried couple living in San Francisco. Three years into their relationship, they remain uninterested in marriage or children, preferring to role-play as strangers, take dance lessons for the fun of it, and avoid their dysfunctional families during the holiday by traveling abroad "for charity work". At Christmas, Brad and Kate plan a relaxing vacation in Fiji, but heavy fog grounds the entire airport. They are unexpectedly interviewed by a television news crew, notifying their families that their holiday plans are now canceled, and forcing them to visit all four of their divorced parents in one day. They make their first reluctant trip to see Brad's father Howard, where Brad is beaten up by his amateur cage-fighter brothers Denver and Dallas, and Kate is surprised to learn that Brad's real name is Orlando. Brad's expensive gifts for the family lead to more tension, while his out-of-control nephews and pregnant sister-in-law Susan leave Kate uncertain whether she does want children. The disastrous visit ends after Brad falls off the roof trying to install a satellite dish. Brad and Kate arrive at her mother Marilyn's house, where Brad meets several generations of her flirtatious female relatives like Kate's sister Courtney. While he is shown embarrassing scrapbooks of Kate's childhood, Kate takes a pregnancy test on a whim. Her niece steals the test, forcing Kate to retrieve it from a mob of children inside an inflatable castle, but the test is negative. At a church service led by Marilyn's boyfriend Pastor Phil, Brad gets carried away and humiliates Kate when they are forced to play Mary and Joseph in the Christmas pageant. The couple then visits Brad's mother Paula, whose boyfriend Darryl is his childhood best friend, much to Brad's discomfort. A game of Taboo with Paula, Darryl, Denver, and Susan further strains Brad and Kate's relationship, leading to an argument in the car about their future together. Kate tries to start a conversation about the negative pregnancy test, but Brad remains adamant that he does not want children. Realizing that she wants a deeper commitment, Kate enters her father Creighton's house alone as Brad drives away. Kate's father encourages her to value her time with family and to embrace honesty, while Brad drives back to see his own father, realizing his fear of ending up similarly bitter and alone. Making up his mind as he revisits his childhood bedroom, Brad reunites with Kate, committing himself to her. On New Year's Day a year later, Brad and Kate welcome their first child after keeping the pregnancy secret. As theirs is the first baby of the New Year, a news crew arrives to congratulate them — once again revealing the news to their families.

Plot from Four ChristmasesCC BY-SA 4.0