Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) found a jacket eight years ago that turned him into Santa Claus. Unfortunately, 900-year old elf Curtis (Spencer Breslin) failed to read the fine print in the Santa Clause and didn't notice that Santa has to find a wife or stop being Santa. As Christmas Eve--the marriage deadline--approaches, Santa finds himself slowly returning to his mortal appearance as the "de-Santification process" begins. To make matters worse, his mortal son, Charlie, is acting out in school and is on the Naughty list. Searching for a wife and worried about Charlie, Santa returns home as Scott, leaving a toy Santa (also played by Allen) in his place to run the North Pole. Unfortunately, the toy Santa becomes obsesses with the rules in the Santa handbook and turns into a dictator, complete with an army of toy soldiers. Allen is extremely engaging as Scott, a normal guy who loves his role as perhaps the most beloved character in the lives of children. David Krumholtz stars as Bernard, Santa's right-hand elf, and Elizabeth Mitchell is Carol Newman, Charlie's school principal and Scott's unlikely love interest.