Becky, along with her husband Luke Brandon, wants to buy a home of their own, so that they do not have to live with Becky's parents anymore. They also face the problem of their young daughter, Minnie. She has already been banned from four different Christmas grottos because of her naughty behaviour. Minnie's inability to behave properly gives Luke doubts about having a second child. He tells Becky that they are already having trouble controlling Minnie and is unable to even contemplate having another child.
In addition to the difficulties of raising Minnie, Becky is also planning a surprise party for Luke. She doesn't want to tell him because he's dealing with both Minnie's misbehavior and the fact that Brandon Communications' reputation was ruined by Iain Walker, the CEO of the Arcodas Group. In spite of the photos as evidence to prove Arcodas' wrongdoing, Luke refuses Becky's request to take them to court and have them sued for Poaching a Client's reputaion. In her efforts to keep it a secret from him, Becky encounters several obstacles. At first, her family and friends doubt her ability to keep such a colossal secret. Becky also faces the financial problem of throwing a grand party and must deal with Elinor, Luke's biological mother. She wants to get to know her granddaughter, Minnie, but Becky refuses to let her be a part of her life. She has banned Elinor for the way she has treated Luke, his stepmother, Annabel and especially her. She keeps the encounters with her a secret from her family and friends as she and Luke don't get along with her. Becky expressly misses Annabel whom was more of a real mother to Luke than Elinor, and thus she liked her more. She must also deal with her own problems with her parents whom are fed up with Becky for running to them to help her solve her problems when Minnie behaves badly, which they have their first serious row and go weeks without talking to.
In a subplot of the novel, it has revealed that Jess, Becky's half-sister and Tom has secretly married in Chile. They are planning to adopt their first kid there, but Janice(Tom's mother) opposes it. She wants their first child to be a natural born before adopting. However, Becky supports Jess and Tom's decision to adopt their first child and tells Janice off to leave them alone as it's not her decision to make in the matter.
Just wen Becky is about to give up on the suprise birthday party after seeing how much of a mess it's in, Elinor steps in and offers an unconditional gift, the one real mothers would've made and reconciles with her when she accepts responsibility for her actions. She is stunned that she would help her, but accepts it so Luke can have his birthday party. Elinor also tells Becky that she knows why Minnie is behaving badly: she's been spoiled too much by her parents and she could do with a strict regime of discipline. Ironically enough, this also confirmed Nanny Sue's assessment whom Luke hired in secret, along with his own fears with having another child. She aslo admitted she observed Becky's own behavior at the mall and her own shopping addiction that not only played a role in Minnie's bad behavior, but also why they were really banned from the previous Christmas grottos. This reveals Nanny Sue as the woman that she unknowingly talked to at the mall with children of her own. Becky finally admits she has a shopping addiction, along with her own spoiled behavior in her inability to take responsibility for herself. After agreeing with Nanny Sue to seek help and undergo "Shopaholics Boot Camp", she asks Luke to reconsider about having a second child and he does. They however must deal with the surprise birthday party along with the two million people who now know about it, which Becky tried to keep a colossal secret. The book ends with Luke asking Becky if she would like to come to L.A with him for 3 months.