Twelve years have passed since Scott Calvin took on the mantle of
Santa Claus. He is now married to Carol Newman, who is now a teacher in the North Pole. On Christmas Eve, she tells a group of young elves a story from her life with Scott while expecting their first child. Scott invites his in-laws, Sylvia and Bud Newman, to the
North Pole, along with Scott's ex-wife Laura, her husband Neil, their daughter Lucy, and Scott's son Charlie. Meanwhile, he is summoned to a meeting of the Council of Legendary Figures, consisting of
Mother Nature,
Father Time, the
Easter Bunny, Cupid, the
Tooth Fairy, and the
Sandman, concerning the behavior of
Jack Frost, who is jealous that he has no holiday or special occasion in his honor. Because he has been promoting himself during the Christmas season, Mother Nature suggests sanctions against him. As Scott is attempting to get the in-laws to come without revealing that he is Santa, Jack Frost negotiates a light sentence of community service at the North Pole. He is to help him and the elves put up various Canadian-themed paraphernalia, as Carol's parents believe he is a toymaker in
Canada. So Scott consents. However, Frost's ultimate goal is to trick Santa into renouncing his position. When now Head elf Curtis inadvertently reveals the "Escape Clause", Frost sneaks into The Hall of Snow Globes and steals the one containing Scott as Santa. If Scott holds the globe and wishes to have "never been Santa at all," he will go back in time and undo his career as Santa. When Lucy discovers this, Frost freezes her parents and locks her in a closet. He then orchestrates situations that make Scott think he must resign to make things better. Frost tricks Scott into invoking the Escape Clause, so both are sent to Scott's front yard in 1994, when Scott caused the original Santa to fall off his roof and had to replace him. Frost causes the original Santa's fall and grabs his coat before Scott can. Scott is sent to an alternate 2006, where he has been CEO of his old company for the last twelve years and business takes priority over family. He also learns that Laura and Neil divorced and Carol moved away years ago. Scott goes to find Lucy and Neil, who are vacationing at the North Pole, which Frost has turned into a theme park. Christmas is now "Frostmas", the elves are miserable, the reindeer are confined to a petting zoo, and parents can pay for their kids to be placed on the nice list. Scott finds Lucy and questions Neil about Laura; he states that Scott’s workaholic absence in Charlie’s life put all the pressure on Neil. As Charlie did not want him to be his father, it caused the divorce between him and Laura. Scott confronts Frost, causing a distraction so that Lucy can steal Frost's snow globe for him. She throws the snow globe to him, but Frost catches it. Scott plays a recording of Frost saying "I wish I'd never been Santa at all" from a novelty North Pole pen given to him earlier, invoking the Escape Clause, sending both of them back to 1994. Scott restrains Jack long enough to let his 1994 counterpart get the coat, making him Santa Claus again and sending both back to the present in the original timeline. Scott reconciles with his family, Frost's sabotage is fixed by Charlie and the Council of Legendary figures and Jack is arrested by elf police. He reveals he cannot unfreeze his victims unless he unfreezes himself, something he says he will never do. So Scott convinces Lucy via a snow globe he had given her earlier of her warmly hugging a snowman, to give Frost a "magic hug" to unfreeze and reform him. It works, Laura and Neil unfreeze and Frost becomes a new person. The "Canada" ruse is dropped and Scott appears as Santa to Carol's parents. With two hours remaining before Santa must leave for his
Christmas deliveries, Carol goes into labor. Months later, while Carol is telling the tale to her students, Scott walks in to show their son, Buddy Claus. ==Cast==