Jake Wilkinson, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, a California student, has not been home to Larchmont, New York for the holidays since his biological mother’s death and his father’s remarriage ten months earlier. A few days before Christmas Eve, his father offers the vintage 1957 Porsche 356 if Jake can make it home by 6:00 PM for Christmas dinner, turning the trip into a high-stakes deadline. Jake’s girlfriend Allie Henderson, Jessica Biel, who opposed the Cabo trip, agrees to ride with him to Larchmont, where her own family also awaits.
On the road, Jake helps a trio of jocks cheat on a midterm, but Eddie Taffet, Adam LaVorgna — Jake’s nemesis and rival for Allie’s affections — sabotages the plan. Eddie and the others abandon Jake in the California desert, his disguise a comically glued Santa suit. Allie heads toward New York with Eddie, deepening the distance between the two would-be lovers.
With only three days to reach home, Jake meets Nolan, Andrew Lauer, a simple-minded thief driving stolen kitchen goods toward a dealer near New York. A police officer named Max, Sean O'Bryan, pulls them over for speeding, but Jake convinces him they are delivering the goods to a children’s hospital, and Max offers to escort them, forcing the thieves to relinquish the haul. Seeing the children inspires Nolan to turn around and head west to see his wife, while Max longs to reunite with his own partner, Marjorie, Lesley Boone, in North Platte, Nebraska. Max asks Jake to accompany him, reasoning that his wife will listen to Santa. With the help of a traveling band, Jake helps Marjorie take Max back, and a grateful Max buys Jake a bus ticket to New York.
Meanwhile, Allie and Eddie grow closer. Allie convinces Eddie to spend the night at the Edelbruck, a Bavarian-themed hotel in Amana, Iowa. They are captured on television under a sprig of mistletoe. Jake sees their kiss while waiting at a bus station in Nebraska and hatches a plan to have the bus driver drop him at Edelbruck. Allie explains the misunderstanding to Jake and they reconcile, until Jake mentions his deal with his father. Upset that Jake cares more about the car than about her, Allie storms out and takes Jake’s seat on the bus.
Jake hitches a ride with Eddie until jealousy drives Eddie to eject him near a Wisconsin town. Jake enters a Santa 5K race and wins, planning to use the prize money to buy an airline ticket to New York, but he learns the town’s prize funds are used to feed the impoverished, so he donates the money instead. Eddie is arrested after insulting two local police officers and his car is towed.
Tracey Wilkinson, Jake’s sister, uses her savings to buy him a ticket home, but she’s prohibited from flying without identification and ends up stowing away in a dog kennel on a cargo aircraft. Jake steals a one-horse open sleigh from the local parade and races to Allie’s house to make amends, arriving at 5:59. When his father offers the Porsche anyway, Jake refuses but looks forward to spending the next holidays at home, repairing the car with his father, and finally accepting his stepmother into the family. The Wilkinsons and Allie join the festive parade in the sleigh, sealing a hopeful, reunited holiday ending.
In the supporting parade and town scenes, Tom Tom Girl Gloria, Kathleen Freeman; Tom Tom Girl Mary, Amzie Strickland; Tom Tom Girl Darlene, Natalie Barish; and Tom Tom Girl Mama, Celia Kushner pop up, as does a wider cast including the brand-new encounters with local characters such as the Mayor Wilson, Ian Robison, the Brandt-Man, PJ Prinsloo, and a few festive helpers who add texture to the road-trip comedy’s holiday spine. The film threads through small-town warmth, mistaken loyalties, and a growing sense of family, all braided around Jake’s determination to be home for Christmas.
