‘VERY, VERY, VALENTINE’ Synopsis

Helen (Danica McKellar) and Henry (Cameron Mathison) have been friends since they studied botany in college. Afterward, he went to Montana and she went to work with her Aunt Carol (Mary Long) at a flower shop in Brooklyn. Years later, when Henry moved to New York for a job at the botanical gardens, his sister sent a congratulatory floral arrangement. But due to the Valentine’s Day rush, the shop was so busy that Helen delivered an “It’s a Boy” bouquet by mistake. Nevertheless, it turned into a happy accident and rekindled their close friendship which for Henry, quickly became much more. Never believing Helen could feel as he did, especially since she often shared her dreams about meeting “the one,” Henry kept his feelings to himself.

Fast-forward to another busy Valentine’s Day season, and Helen is once again up to her ears in floral arrangements, too busy to pay much attention to what Henry has brought to the shop. It’s an entry form for the International Flower Selection and he’s certain the red, pink and white rose Helen has spent years crossbreeding will win. All she has to do is name the rose and fill out the form, especially since he’s already submitted her flower. In fact, Henry is always showing up with coffee or lunch plans and one morning he arrives with an invitation to the Metropolitan Art Gallery’s annual Black and White Gala, an elegant masquerade ball. All she needs to do, he tells her, is say yes, handing Helen a mask and modeling a distinctive one of his own.

Having too much work and nothing to wear, Helen begs off until her aunt and the shop assistant pitch in, and soon she’s at the gala in a dazzling gown. Spotting a man in Henry’s mask with a crossbred rose on his lapel, she heads over but it’s not Henry. He’s nowhere to be found, so the masked man ends up charming Helen into exploring the greenhouse and encourages her to bid on a painting. But in true Cinderella-like fashion, when the clock chimes he rushes off in the middle of a dance, dropping his boutonniere. Love-struck by the time Henry shows up, Helen describes her magical evening, too excited to notice his disappointment.

The next day, Helen discovers that Charles Bradfield (Damon Runyan) bought the rose and ironically, it is Henry who finds him. Soon, to his dismay, the two are dating. But later, when Charles reveals his plans to turn the botanical gardens into condos, Helen ends the romance. She’s feeling Henry is more than a friend too, and when he gives her a special Valentine, the painting she bid on at the gala, she’s sure he’s been “the one” all along. Mustering the nerve to tell him, she’s heartbroken to learn he’s taken a job in Arizona, and finding solace in her work, she goes to the shop. There her aunt asks her to deliver a bouquet to a man at the botanical gardens and is met with the most romantic surprise of her life.

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