‘MEDDLING MOM’
SYNOPSIS
Loving mother and widow Carmen Vega and her daughters Ally and Yolanda, mother Abuela,
sister Valeria and best friend Marisol are getting primped at a salon for Yolanda’s wedding.
Carmen is hard on Ally, her oldest daughter, who hasn’t married yet. Carmen has good
intentions, but believes in old-fashioned values and worries Ally will become a spinster.
Although she usually means well and only wants the very best for her family, many times
Carmen’s meddling leads to disastrous results. Ally brushes off her mother’s concern,
explaining she isn’t interested in rushing a marriage and is driven in her career as an architect.
When Yolanda and her husband Rico return home from their honeymoon the next week, Rico
starts to grow frustrated with Carmen butting into his life, but Yolanda and Ally are used to it.
As Carmen continues to put pressure on her daughters, Valeria encourages her to go on a date
herself. It has been seven years since Carmen’s husband Ramon’s death and Carmen still
hasn’t moved on. Carmen insists she wants to focus on finding Ally a man first. Marisol thinks
her son Pablo, a lawyer, would be a perfect match.
At Vega Antiques, the gorgeous antique tile store Carmen successfully runs, a suave and
charming customer, Luis, walks in. Carmen and Luis have an easy and flirty rapport, but
Carmen always playfully refuses to go to dinner with Luis, clearly still afraid to move on. He
urges her to visit his dance studio, where he is eager to give her a lesson and determined to
win her over.
At the weekly family dinner that Sunday, as Carmen busily prepares the meal, Marisol arrives
with her gorgeous son, Pablo. Carmen feigns surprise as she pushes Ally to talk to him. By the
end of the night, Ally has agreed to a date with Pablo. Apprehensive, she agrees to give it a
chance—until she runs into an old college friend, Ben. As the architect working on Ben’s
company’s new building, Ally starts to spend more time with Ben, happy to reconnect while
they work together. Ally cancels her date with Pablo and goes to dinner with Ben instead,
making Carmen and Marisol furious.
Ally enjoys her date with Ben and as the couple starts to spend more time together, Ally keeps
the relationship a secret from Carmen. Meanwhile, the constant pressure of living in the
guesthouse and trying to get his business off the ground is getting to Rico and he and Yolanda
argue. Eavesdropping, Carmen comes up with a plan to help the two make up and cooks a
surprise candlelight dinner. Instead of taking the stress off the couple, it only adds to it as Rico
and Yolanda reprimand Carmen for intruding once again.
Still wanting to make good on her promise of a date to Pablo—and Carmen—Ally agrees to go
out to dinner with him again. Carmen spies on the date, sitting at a nearby table in disguise.
When Ally and Pablo lean in to kiss, Carmen silently celebrates before slipping out.
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HALLMARK MOVIE CHANNEL / ‘MEDDLING MOM’ – Synopsis – Page 2
As Ally and Pablo pull apart, they realize the chemistry just isn’t there and decide to remain
friends. Ally finally admits to Carmen she is dating someone else, but refuses to give her mother
any details about Ben, afraid she’ll butt in. When Carmen questions Yolanda about Ally’s
mystery man, she accidentally slips his name, giving Carmen just the clue she needs.
Doing what she does best, Carmen tracks Ben down at his office and takes him out to lunch to
get to know him. Although surprised, Ben has a pleasant lunch getting to know Ally’s mom,
even finding her charming. Later, as Ben recounts the lunch to Ally, she is embarrassed and
promises to go sort things out with Carmen once and for all. When Ally confronts Carmen,
Carmen tells her Ben had so many nice things to say about her and Ally softens, truly falling for
Ben. Carmen agrees to stay out of the relationship if Ally keeps her updated.
Ecstatic her daughter has found a boyfriend, Carmen is in a good mood at the store, where Luis
surprises her with lunch he made himself. Carmen keeps up with his playful banter and is
actually impressed at his effort, allowing him in to her life more and more. Everything is falling
into place. Then, Yolanda comes over for dinner and announces Rico left her after one of
Carmen's stunts—pointedly leaving baby books in their house—pushed him away.
Ally comforts Yolanda and both wish Carmen had a boyfriend to keep her busy. Hoping to
bring the family together again and sorry for her mistake, Carmen throws a huge surprise party
for Ally’s birthday and even invites Ben's boss, Kent. But when Ally and Ben arrive together,
they are completely surprised by the party and even more shocked to see Kent, who warned
them not to date as it is against company policy. Now, their lie is caught and Kent takes Ben
off the project. Ally reprimands her mother for going too far and Carmen insists she only ever
wanted the best for her family. She leaves the party visibly upset and hurt and soon finds
herself walking into Luis's dance studio.
Carmen is near tears as she explains to Luis how she has messed everything up. Then, she
suddenly kisses Luis. Realizing what she's done, Carmen hurries out of the studio without an
explanation. Ally and Yolanda find out she visited Luis and decide to give their mom a taste of
her own medicine. They pay a visit to the dance studio where Luis tells them he needs help
convincing Carmen to go on a date.
Desperate to preoccupy their mother, the girls set up a romantic candlelight dinner for her and
Luis. Carmen is surprised to see Luis, especially after their awkward last encounter, but soon
they grow comfortable with each other again. Luis hopes her visit to the studio the other night
was a step toward exciting new beginnings. Carmen agrees and decides her meddling days are
over and it's time to give Luis a chance.
Although Ally and Yolanda are still miserable with their relationships, they are happy to at least
have Carmen off their case as she spends more time with Luis. But then, they see Luis walking
in the neighborhood with a young blonde woman. Concerned, the girls tell their mother what
they saw and Carmen immediately calls Luis, telling him not to see her anymore.
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HALLMARK MOVIE CHANNEL / ‘MEDDLING MOM’ – Synopsis – Page 3
As the Vega women throw themselves a pity party, Carmen asks her daughters if she can have
one last chance at meddling to make things right. Ally and Yolanda decide to give her a
chance, thinking things couldn't get any worse. First, Carmen visits Kent at his office, using her
refined manipulating skills to convince him to put Ben back on Ally's project. Next, she heads to
the bar where she finds Rico in his usual spot. Carmen apologizes for her mistakes and gives
Rico a new set of keys to the guesthouse. She's changed the locks and promises not to bother
him and Yolanda anymore. As she leaves, Rico smiles, ready to go home to his wife.
Then, Luis pushes his way into the antique store as Carmen is closing up at night, demanding
to talk. She explains her daughters saw him with another woman and Luis can only laugh as he
explains the woman was his daughter. Carmen is embarrassed and eagerly agrees when Luis
asks for another chance, knowing what they have is good.
Six months later, the ladies get ready in the salon again—this time for Carmen's wedding! As
everyone celebrates after the ceremony, Yolanda pulls Carmen aside to tell her the news—she's
pregnant! Carmen is ecstatic as she leads her family to the reception, already eagerly planning
the nursery and deciding on baby names—proving old habits diehard!
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