Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
Kristina and Sture is married and has a little baby boy, Olle. Sture is an architect and while he is struggling with his business, his wife Kristina gets lonesome and starts to get take an interest in Sture's Norwegian architect colleague, Arne Ranck.
A reclusive telemarketer has only one semblance of a friend: His telecommuter boss. But the telemarketer's social circle seems to improve greatly when a whimsical co-worker enters his life. Only, as he begins to sketch his new friend's portrait, disturbing "voices" from the phone man's past threaten to lead him into a network of destruction.
After being kidnapped and escaping, young drummer boy Aaron searches for his camel and finds him in the Nativity of the Baby Jesus. Aaron gives Baby Jesus the only gift he has, a song on his drum.
Over the Christmas holidays in a small New England college town, a man and a woman share a brief interlude. He is there to visit his wife, who is a mental patient at the university, and she is there visiting her son, who is a student, after discovering her husband's infidelity.
Henry II and his estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, battle over the choice of an heir.
After her boyfriend commits suicide, a young woman attempts to use the unpublished manuscript of a novel and a sum of money he left behind to reinvent her life.
A couple confronts the cracks in the foundation of their marriage after reading their son's letter to Santa Claus.
A chef bets her future on competing in a new reality show while butting heads with a local baker.
George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.
Rocky Balboa holds the world heavyweight championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago, a six-foot-four, 261-pound fighter who has the backing of the Soviet Union. This time, Rocky's training regimen takes him to Siberia, where he prepares for a globally televised match in the heart of Moscow. But nothing can truly prepare him for what he's about to face – a fight to the finish, in which he must defend not only himself, but also the honor of his country!
Carly heads to a small town to lead a church choir at Christmastime, facing her first holiday season without her mother. While there, she connects with a man back in town after serving in the Army.
Two families that hated each other for years are forced to spend Christmas together.
Robert Lahnstein, feared TV commentator, doesn't like people, not even at Christmas. He wants to be alone - even on Christmas Eve. He thinks Christmas is just as hypocritical as politics. That's why he packs his SUV with a frozen goose and a Christmas tree to retreat to his lonely cabin in the mountains. But the plan ends for him in a tree. With the last of his strength he reaches a barn. But he is not allowed to be alone even in the deepest wilderness, because other people have also sought shelter from the snowstorm in this barn and Robert Lahnstein has to gradually put aside his rudeness and his prejudices.
As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.
Jack's lavish, fast-paced lifestyle changes one Christmas night when he stumbles into a grocery store holdup and disarms the gunman. The next morning he wakes up in bed lying next to Kate, his college sweetheart he left in order to pursue his career, and to the horrifying discovery that his former life no longer exists. As he stumbles through this alternate suburban universe, Jack finds himself at a crossroad where he must choose between his high-power career and the woman he loves.
On Christmas Eve, Léa and Juliette, a couple, want to rob a supermarket that Juliette knows is empty of surveillance on this festive evening. But, as much for each of them as for Eric, the vigil who is there after all, nothing will happen as planned. Besides, shortly before leaving him alone, the store manager gave Eric a gun, just in case.
Regulars gather at The Blue Jay, a gay bar in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, to celebrate Christmas Eve 1971 with people they consider family.
Erik, a loner, finds a friend in Dexter, an eleven-year-old boy with AIDS. They vow to find a cure for AIDS together and save Dexter's life in an eventful summer.
Gina and Seth have been pen pals for 13 years and now will have the chance to meet. Both used their best friends pictures to send to each other and now will let their friends meet. True love is found in the end for all.