When Santa gets mugged, stripped, and arrested on Christmas Eve, a skinny black man who’s afraid of heights gets tricked into taking his place.

SYNOPSIS:

Clifford, a nerdy, black computer technician, hates the holidays until he runs into Teresa, the girl he was secretly in love with back in high school. After that, all he wants to do is to show this beautiful single mother that he can get into the Christmas spirit. Meanwhile, the police are on the lookout for a heavy-set Caucasian thief they call the Second-Story Santa. At the same time, three middle-school students mistake the real Santa for the thief and snare him with a rope. They accidentally drop him from the side of a six-story apartment building into a garbage bin in the alley. Later, a homeless man sells Santa’s suit to Clifford, who hopes to use it to impress Teresa. But when he puts on the suit, he sees a sleigh and talking reindeer who trick him into delivering presents in spite of his extreme fear of heights. Meanwhile, the real Santa Claus breaks out of jail with the help of his drunken Santa cellmates. While he's waiting for the reindeer to find him, Santa takes the place of a Santa no-show at an urban club where he ends up leading the customers in a hip-hop line dance. Clifford tries to deliver presents, but everywhere he goes, he’s mistaken for The Second-Story Santa, the fat white thief who’s breaking into houses stealing presents. Even Teresa thinks he’s a criminal. The reindeer finally lead Clifford to the original Santa who shows him the compartment in the back of the sleigh where he keeps the spare sleigh and the boots that give him the power to move at super speed. Clifford puts on the boots and suddenly he’s fat with a long white beard. Santa asks him to take one of the sleighs to help him deliver presents. But first he has to get Santa’s bag back from the Meanwhile, the Second-Story Santa catches a news report that says Teresa got a good enough look to identify him. He tracks her down to try to shut her up. Clifford returns to Teresa’s house to deliver the last of his presents, hoping for one last chance to change her mind. Instead he’s forced to risk his life to save Teresa by going head-to-head with the Second-Story Santa himself.