In Victorian London foundling Jedrington Secret-Past has his shop of stuff confiscated and his wife and children jailed in the Skint debtors' prison by wicked lawyer Malifax Skulkingworm, who claims that Jedrington has inherited a debt from his supposed grandfather, which must be paid by Christmas day - eleven hours' time. Denied help by his austere adopted aunts, Jedrington's kindly uncle provides the money but Skulkingworm attempts to kill the shop keeper. He is rescued by the Artful Codger and his urchins and shown proof by Skulkingworm's clerk Fearshiver that he is not the descendant of a debtor but the child of Miss Christmasham, who deserted Malifax to marry Mr Fruitcake, the maddest man in the Skint. After the family has escaped from jail with jovial Mr Jollyforth, Miss Christmasham and Fruitcake marry on Christmas eve, thus giving Jedrington legitimacy and thwarting the evil lawyer.
Whistling Dick, a hobo known for whistling classical tunes, arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana, to discover that fellow hoboes plan to rob the Lovejoy plantation on Christmas night. Their accomplice is Richmond, a guest and suitor of young Nadine Lovejoy, who loves the overseer, Hunter. On the road, Dick encounters Nadine, Hunter, and Richmond, who offer him a ride and give him a package, which they believe to be a new smoking pipe. After arriving on the plantation, Dick opens the package to find a pair of women's stockings. Richmond's gang of robbers fear that Dick will reveal their plot to the Lovejoys and abduct him. Dick warns his hosts by wrapping a message around a rock, placing it in one of the stockings, and throwing it through a window. It lands on the dining room table during a Christmas dinner party and the plot is thwarted. Dick is welcomed as a guest, given new clothes, and offered a job; but the next morning he resumes his wandering.
