Ed Asner plays Horace McNickle, a counterfeiter who escapes prison through his extraordinary likeness to St. Nick. The police are closing in, but Christmas is near so there are redsuited ones everywhere. McNickle is desperate to recover loot from an earlier caper, and can’t make a move until he takes advantage of two neighborhood kids who really believe he is Santa. After the kids come through, it dawns on him that he has always missed the true meaning of the holidays.