In the fictional town of Cloverdale,
Massachusetts,
optometrist and self-proclaimed
Christmas expert Steve Finch wants his family, consisting of wife Kelly, daughter Madison, and son Carter, to have a great Christmas, filled with traditions such as using an
Advent calendar, taking Christmas card pictures in matching sweaters, and buying a large
Christmas tree. In the middle of the night on December 1, new neighbors move in across the street:
car salesman and electrical engineer Buddy Hall and his
trophy wife Tia, both of whom Steve and Kelly meet the next morning. Later that day, Kelly goes with Madison and Carter to the Hall house, where they meet the Halls’ teenage twin daughters, Ashley and Emily. Tia and Kelly immediately become friends, as do Ashley, Emily, and Madison. Buddy goes to work as a used car salesman, where he sells a car to the owner of the
dealership, giving him a
promotion. That night, Tia complains to him that while he can sell anything he soon gets bored. She is fed up with always moving on, to which Buddy responds he wants to achieve something greater than selling cars or copiers. After discovering that the neighborhood can be seen on
satellite photos, but that his house is not visible, Buddy decides to make it visible using
Christmas lights. As his display grows bigger, including live animals, it gets him known around town, angering Steve and threatening his position as the neighborhood's “Christmas guy.” Steve's envy towards Buddy increases; in various incidents, Steve's Christmas card photo is ruined when two of Buddy's
phonophobic feral horses get startled by the sleigh bells and take Steve for a wild ride which ends with him falling into a frozen lake, his car doors are ripped off during one of Buddy's extravagant light shows, and his private Christmas tree lot is burned down when Buddy accidentally spills
gasoline with his
chainsaw. Eventually, Buddy's house is completely lit, and even synchronized to music. Steve manages to sabotage his lights by
shorting the fuse box with snowballs, but a backup generator foils his plan. Buddy discovers the sabotage and retaliates by stealing the town's Christmas tree, putting it in Steve's house, and "buying" him a car. Buddy and Steve make a bet: if Steve beats him in the WinterFest
speedskating race, then Buddy removes the lights, and if Buddy wins, Steve pays for the car. When Buddy wins, Steve yells at him, calling him a nobody as his house is still not visible from space. Hurt, Buddy compensates by buying a huge amount of programmable
LED lights. He pays for by hocking Tia's valuable
heirloom vase, so she and the girls depart. Buddy's obsession with decorating his house also causes him to lose his job. Having had enough, Steve buys various
fireworks including the "Atomic Warlord", a large, illegal,
military-grade
rocket from a
gangster and tries to destroy the Hall house. The rocket misfires, setting the town Christmas tree on fire, so Steve's family leaves, but not before Kelly scolds Steve for ignoring his children to focus on Buddy. Steve discovers Buddy has been stealing his power for the lights. However, after seeing him taking down his lights, a remorseful Steve forgives him. The two forget their rivalry and build a winter wonderland with all of Buddy's lights. They lure Tia, Kelly, and the kids home and all sit down to an elaborate Christmas dinner made by both men, where they reconcile. Soon, the whole town arrives at Buddy's house to help put his lights back up, in time for a story about them on
MTV. At first, the lights fail, so everyone sings "
O Holy Night" and uses their
cell phones as flashlights. As they sing, Steve accepts Buddy's offer to be his friend, and Carter notices that the lights did not work because one of the plugs was not plugged in properly. He tightens the plug, causing the lights to shine brightly through the night.
SuChin Pak, doing the MTV report, gets confirmation from MyEarth that Buddy's house is indeed visible from space, and the crowd celebrates. ==Cast==