The movie begins at the North Pole with Santa Claus (George Wendt) and his dog Santa Paws (Tom Bosley) taking a look at the magical Christmas Icicle, which is melting because of nobody believing in Christmas anymore; if it continues to melt, Christmas will be gone forever.
In general, the plot of the special loosely follows that of the original song, with extensive elaboration to expand the special to a half-hour time slot.
When an old man (Sebastian Cabot) spies the department store Santa Claus get drunk before taking part in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, he immediately locates and complains to Karen Walker (Jane Alexander), the parade director. She promptly fires her Santa Claus and the old man, who turns out to be named Kris Kringle, volunteers to take his place for the sake of the children. Kris does so well during the parade that he is immediately hired to be the store's main Santa for the holiday period. At the same time, Karen's daughter, Susan (Suzanne Davidson), an intelligent but cynical six-year-old, meets her new neighbor, Bill Schafner (David Hartman), a lawyer, and decides to try and hook him up with her mother.
The oil company is headed by Sumner Murdock (Mason Adams). The exploration project in the North Pole is recommended and managed by Michael Baldwin (Paul Le Mat).
This remake follows the same basic concept as the original: Santa, disillusioned by children's lack of belief in him and in the spirit of giving, decides not to deliver toys this Christmas Eve, despite the arguments by Mrs. Claus and two of his helper-elves, Jingle and Jangle. They decide to provide Santa with some proof that children still believe and that they still deserve toys from Santa, so the elves visit the United States in search of Christmas spirit.
The story follows an anthropomorphic Jack Russell Terrier named Olive (voiced by Drew Barrymore), who does not act at all like a dog. ("The Days Still Remaining 'Till Christmas") While in town, she meets Martini, a con artist penguin (voiced by Joe Pantoliano), from whom she buys a "Rolexxx". When she returns home from some errands, she finds her owner, Tim (voiced by Jay Mohr), putting away Christmas decorations and announcing morosely that there "won't be any Christmas".
The movie opens in Sydney, Australia where Nicholas and his best friend Felix, gazing at the toy shop window seeing what Santa's workshop looks like. They reside at the orphanage where all the Children were orphans. The bully, Grincroch, picks on Nicholas that Santa doesn't exist as he asks him that he's afraid of heights. But, Nicholas manages to retrieve a toy for the child after climbing up the orphanage fence. Nicholas was pure of heart believing Christmas and Santa. But on Christmas Eve, Nicholas's best friend Felix, gets adopted by his new parents and gives his lucky charm to Nicholas as Felix with his new parents move to America.
A group of local reindeer herders have their Christmas disturbed by excavations on the mountain. A scientist has ordered a team of workers to dig open what he calls "the largest burial mound in the world". An explosive used by the team uncovers what is referred to as a "sacred grave". However, the occupant of the grave is still alive.
En cette nuit de Noël, Antoine, six ans, n’a qu’une idée en tête : rencontrer le Père Noël et faire un tour de traîneau avec lui dans les étoiles… Alors quand celui-ci tombe comme par magie sur son balcon, Antoine est trop émerveillé pour voir en ce Père Noël un cambrioleur déguisé, qui dérobe les bijoux dans les appartements des beaux quartiers. Et malgré tous les efforts du Père Noël pour se débarrasser d’un Antoine déterminé, ils vont former alors un duo invraisemblable, parcourant Paris de toit en toit, chacun à la recherche de son rêve.
Dax est un employé d'une société de recouvrement de créances. À l'approche des fêtes, il n'obtient pas de promotion et perd son travail car il est froid et solitaire. Il perd sa maison, sa voiture et sa petite amie. Dans le même temps au Pôle Nord, le poste d'assistant du Père Noël est à pourvoir et Eleanor, une elfe, souhaite par-dessus tout ce travail.
Les 92 000 lutins de Santa, le père Noël, tombent malades en pleine préparation des cadeaux. Poussé par sa femme Wanda, il va descendre sur Terre pour rapporter autant de comprimés de vitamine C qu'il y a de lutins pour les guérir.