Stella is the protagonist and narrator of Lovelight Farms. She is a character who is greatly influenced by her past and her strong relationship with her hardworking single mother. When her wealthy father abandoned them when Stella was young, Stella noticed how her mother would do everything in her power to make Stella happy, even as they moved from town to town for her mother’s jobs. They eventually settled in Inglewild, Maryland, where the two made frequent, memorable visits to a Christmas tree farm.

After the death of her mother, Stella fell into profound grief that she couldn’t escape until she befriended Luka Peters, a man whose own mother had just moved into town. Stella felt steadied by Luka’s friendship and quickly developed feelings for him, though she never acted on them for fear of losing him. Two years before the beginning of the novel, Stella saw that the Christmas tree farm she grew up attending was for sale, so she purchased it and started a business there.

Though the first year at Lovelight Farms went well for Stella, the farm has started to hemorrhage money in its second year, causing Stella to worry whether or not her dream of making others feel the farm’s magic is sustainable.