Ash

It's holiday time. The leaves have turned, the air has grown crisp, and love is all around - love of family, freedom, and life in the dreamy, community-oriented township nestled in the Maryland countryside. But will love be enough to overcome all the challenges that our favorite Baymoor residents will face in this festive gathering of the Carlton siblings, their significant others, and host of extended family and friends? Only a hearty meal (or two), a good cry (or three), and a reaffirming commitment to one another, like only the Carlton siblings know how.

A Harlem Kingpin meets a Struggling, Single mother. Hood Love is in the air. Life in Harlem has never been easy for Kayla “Kiki” Hayes. Getting pregnant right as she was graduating high school didn't make things any easier. Life wouldn't be so bad if she had a loving man to come home to after working her minimum-wage job. Her baby daddy is a lot of things. But loving ain't one of them. For years, she’s felt neglected and unloved. She wants to be free. More than anything she wants to be the caring, loving mother that she never had. Just when she thinks she can't take anymore, a ...

Five Years Earlier: Henry Dunne knows three things: that agreeing to host this raucous house party was a terrible idea, that he absolutely cannot show up to his nursing shift tomorrow with a hangover, and that the beautiful redhead in the corner will be sleeping in his bed tonight.

Gil (Domingo) is a struggling NYC actor who heads home to Philadelphia after the passing of his mother, Adelaide (Winfrey). The plan is to tidy-up her affairs as quickly and efficiently as possible, until a few unpredictably hilarious detours ensue. With his Aunt Glo (Washington) insisting on a proper burial, but an urn of ashes already in his hand, Gil gets thrown into a car by his best friend (Newell).

Harlow Shaw feels naïve for believing in happily ever afters, but she craves a love that lights her up. She thinks she has it all with her boyfriend—Until his promising baseball career overshadows their relationship, and he asks her a life-changing question. It causes her to wonder if what they have is all she ever truly wanted. Harlow is yearning for more than the curated life she is living. A trip to Bali, a move to Seattle, and an alleged burned cup of coffee lead her to a friendship she didn't know she needed and a love so deep she can feel it in her bones.

Sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo has just made a huge mistake. As an expert in relationship-evasion and the host of the popular student radio show Brown Sugar, she’s made it her mission to make sure the women of the African-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University do not fall into the mess of “situationships”, players, and heartbreak. But when the Queen of the Unbothered kisses Malakai Korede, the guy she just publicly denounced as “The Wastemen of Whitewell,” in front of every Blackwellian on campus, she finds her show on the brink.

In order to find love, you have to take a chance. You have to open yourself up to the possibility of being hurt. You have to expose yourself in a way that you usually wouldn't; allow others to see vulnerabilities that you try to hide. Journalist Aria Smith tried that three years ago and it ended in disaster. Now, she's just trying to focus on moving up the ladder in her career. She's just been handed the most coveted interview in sports writing, so it looks like she's well on her way. Basketball star Tory Barker is fresh off of a championship season and is in high demand right now.

How do you deal with a childhood crush that you never grew out of? You don't. You force it back to the far recesses of your mind and push through, but it's never gone for long. Dominique has been drooling over AJ since she was a child. Time and proximity have done nothing to tamp down on this puppy love crush that has developed into mature longing. All she wants is a little piece of something with him, that's all, but when she gets that piece, will it be enough? Or is she willing to wait longer for his love?

On a beautiful island in the Caribbean, a woman with a checkered past has retired from a life of crime. She is now raising her son, trying to spare him from the ills that her former life provided. However, in a blink of an eye it all changes. When a wealthy tourist gets entangled with her son, it forces Aries to show who she really is and her old connections are called.

In eight years Marlon James will be one of the brightest rising stars in the music industry. Bristol Gray will be his tough, no-nonsense manager. But when they first meet, she's a college student finding her way in the world, and he's an artist determined to make his way in it. From completely different worlds, all the things that should separate them only draw them closer. It's a beautiful beginning, but where will the story end?