Life has its ups and downs. Sometimes, we need to go very deep before we can rise to great heights. This is not only the case in real life, but I believe that it is also good to reflect such difficulties in storytelling.
We can emphasize easier with the great losses that some heroes endured and those stories tend to stick with us. The Arthurian Legend comes to mind where King Arthur rose to great heights only to lose his wife and see Camelot burn in the end.
I think the same holds true for a good romance story. It is easy to write a story where the main character only knows ups and never really experiences any downs, but where does that leave you?
It is only through difficulties and learning to overcome the challenges in your life that you can grow as a person and become more than you were. Failure, although bad in the moment, gives you an opportunity to learn and grow.
With 'A Little Help' the main character goes through several challenges in his life that he'll need to overcome in order to accomplish the goals he had set out for himself.
I am not sure if drama is a necessity for good romance storytelling, but I do believe that seeing how somebody overcomes his difficulties can be inspiring and makes a story memorable. As my grandfather once told me, "You can't have the good without the bad. It's through the bad that you learn to appreciate the good."