Groundswell

Lacey Chabert is Emma, an assistant chef in Atlanta. She is the creative one but her boss, who also is her boyfriend, doesn't like to share the credit. So she needs some fresh perspective, she is no longer sure he is the one for her, she flies to Hawaii to visit her old aunt there.

In the process she wanders into a surfing store and meets Ektor Rivera as Ben, he transplanted himself from Puerto Rico for the surfing circuit but no longer surfs. He blames it for a loss in his life.

In a stroke of good fortune Ben's brother is also a chef, but gay with a husband, so he and Emma strike up a good friendly relationship, and cook together in the featured competition with guest judges.

The story develops nicely, the title comes from a comment during a surfing lesson, the "groundswell" is a reference to ocean water welling up to form nice waves.

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library. Being a Hallmark movie it follows their usual formula, with the first "Hallmark kiss" coming at one minute before the movie ends. A nice, clean and entertaining movie. I love to cook so I especially enjoyed the scenes involving food preparation.