AJ Thompson lives in Fargo, North Dakota, in a small, comfortable house with his two best friends, Danny Davy and Morgan Hoyt Davy, along with their two dogs, Diddy and Biff. He holds a modest entry‑level middle‑management job at a company owned by his father, Greg Carlson. One day, while taking a trip to the dog park, AJ learns the mayor has closed the park to build a new outdoor blog park, and he heads straight to the mayor to demand the park be reopened. The mayor refuses, making it clear he’ll never get it back, and AJ’s orderly life begins to crumble. With Danny and Morgan moving stateside, AJ resolves to fight, fish, scrap, and scrape his way into Fargo’s mayoral chair so he can restore the park.
AJ’s journey to power starts with a rough education in fighting, learned from Luciano, who moves in after his friends leave. He also trains in the carmen elbow, a technique the mayor once used to defeat him. As AJ advances, the mayor escalates her vigilance and dispatches two suit aides to keep an eye on him: Zachary Lutz and Whitney McClain. In the midst of this, AJ encounters Captain Seastab, played by Jacob Hartje, a sea captain who becomes his ally in pursuit of the longest fish ever caught to beat the mayor’s record. The matchup with Seastab reveals a human cost: Seastab once pursued the same dream to the point of distancing himself from his family, a cautionary tale that informs AJ’s choices.
AJ’s perseverance pays off as he achieves a remarkable feat on the water, catching a comically long fish that shifts the balance of the contest. Yet danger remains high: the mayor’s suit aides kidnap AJ and plot to shoot him, only to find themselves moved by their own affection for each other. Their bond strengthens AJ’s cause, and they publicly declare him the best scrapper in Fargo during a ceremony that throws the mayor into disarray.
The climax unfolds at Sapfest, the final test to determine Fargo’s new mayor, where AJ must collect the most sap. At first it looks like the mayor will prevail, but he redraws his strategy by recalling the carmen elbow technique and using it on the tree itself, causing a spectacular sap eruption that crowns him the new mayor. Once in office, he grants his two aides a vacation and reopens the dog park. Yet joy is tempered by a mystery: his dogs, Diddy and Biff, have vanished. The revelation that this pursuit has spanned years—and perhaps decades—shifts the story into the future, revealing that it’s now the year 2039.
AJ consults his father, who urges him to check in on social media. There, he discovers Diddy and Biff are studying at Fargo State University, and he travels to reunite with them at the college. He learns from Ethan Saari, who plays AJ Jr., that the dogs are heading to the Prague-bound airport to study abroad. AJ rushes to reunite with his pets, but a misstep at the airport makes him realize he’s been missing other people’s moments of life while chasing the dog park dream. AJ Jr. consoles him, reminding him that “everyone comes home for Christmas,” and that the journey mattered even if it meant missing some moments along the way.
Feeling the weight of his responsibilities, AJ contemplates stepping away from the mayoralty and even offers the position back to the previous mayor, who declines, choosing instead to work in middle management and eventually accept a job from AJ’s father. The two decide to merge their ideas—creating Blog Bark, a combination of a dog park and a computer lab. As Christmas arrives, Danny and Morgan return with Diddy and Biff, bringing renewed happiness to everyone. Yet beneath the festive surface, cracks in the ground herald an approaching apocalypse, as an underworld demon lord named Demon Lord Krogloch rises to build a rival park and threaten Fargo. Realizing that this moment ties directly to his long journey, AJ draws on new strength, wields a power sword, and steps forward to duel the looming threat with the fate of Fargo hanging in the balance.
> everyone comes home for Christmas
Owen Dennis appears as the menacing Demon Lord Krogloch, setting the stage for a climactic showdown that blends humor, hope, and a touch of fantasy into a small‑town epic.
