After the death of his parents, 10-year-old, Jackson Mayhew (Culkin), moves in with his Aunt. But when he befriends an elderly man (Cronyn), he begins to suspect that the old man is actually Santa Claus.
Town barber Dexter Miles is surprised to overhear, while cutting the hair of police chief Vance Corgan, that the body of a woman he murdered a few days before has been recovered. He had hoped that the body would not be found until spring...