A college student experiences difficulty in getting home for Christmas after being hazed by his friends. While struggling to get home in time for Christmas, he learns quite a bit about himself and the true meaning of the holiday.

It's Christmas time and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration, but things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.

Optometrist Steve Finch loves those Christmas traditions he has set up with his family and his town. As such, he has a schedule of activities for his family starting on December 1st, and is the official unofficial consultant for anything Christmas related in his town of Cloverdale, Massachusetts. During the Christmas season, the Halls move in to the house across the street from the Finch's. The Halls in general are different in outlook and temperament than the Finches. Unlike Steve, Buddy Hall scams his way through life and never follows through with anything he starts. While Kelly Finch and Tia Hall - Steve's wife and Buddy's wife respectively - and their children begin friendships based largely on those differences, Steve and Buddy butt heads based on those differences. It begins with Buddy striving to have his house seen from outer space by decorating it as lavishly and brightly as possible. One of the results of Buddy's task his that he becomes the new go to guy for anything Christmas related in Cloverdale, usurping Steve's coveted position. As Steve and Buddy's open animosity grows, they may threaten the joy of Christmas for all, most specifically their families who have their own ideas of what they would like to do over the Christmas season.

St. Louis 1903. The well-off Smith family has four beautiful daughters, including Esther and little Tootie. 17-year old Esther has fallen in love with the boy next door who has just moved in, John. He however barely notices her at first. The family is shocked when Mr. Smith reveals that he has been transfered to a nice position in New York, which means that the family has to leave St. Louis and the St. Louis Fair.

At the Macy's Department Store Thanksgiving Day parade, the actor playing Santa is discovered to be drunk by a whiskered old man. Doris Walker, the no nonsense special events director, persuades the old man to take his place. The old man proves to be a sensation and is quickly recruited to be the store Santa at the main Macy's outlet. While he is successful, Ms. Walker learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and he claims to be the actual Santa Claus. Despite reassurances by Kringle's doctor that he is harmless, Doris still has misgivings, especially when she has cynically trained herself, and especially her daughter, Susan, to reject all notions of belief and fantasy. And yet, people, especially Susan, begin to notice there is something special about Kris and his determination to advance the true spirit of Christmas amidst the rampant commercialism around him and succeeding in improbable ways. When a raucous conflict with the store's cruelly incompetent psychologist erupts, Kris finds himself held at Bellevue where, in despair, he deliberately fails a mental examination to ensure his commitment. All seems lost until Doris' friend, Fred Gaily, reassures Kris of his worth and agrees to represent him in the fight to secure his release. To achieve that, Fred arranges a formal hearing in which he argues that Kris is sane because he is in fact Santa Claus. What ensues is a bizarre hearing in which people's beliefs are reexamined and put to the test, but even so, it's going to take a miracle for Kris to win.

Food Network's Guy Fieri rolls out to visit America's favorite diners, drive-ins and dives, interviewing the owners of the food establishments and samples the items on their menus.