A lawyer and a little girl must prove that a man claiming to be Santa Claus is the real thing.
Major New York department store Cole's risks bankruptcy unless it smashes the Christmas sale. Its major Santa campaign is under threat when their drunk man crashes the reindeer sleigh. PR executive Dorey Walker snatches from the crowd a man who looks just the part and accepts, calling himself Kris Kringle. However he insist to be Father Christmas, the real Santa. Only Dorey's daughter Susan (6) really believes him, but after Kris knocks down an attacker in self-defense on the street, sent by the store's ruthless competitor Jack Duff, he maintains his claim in court. Rather than let him rot away in a mental institution, Dorey's fiance, attorney Bryan Bedford, takes on DA Ed Collins with creativity and sympathetic judge Harper. A special reward follows mysteriously.—KGF Vissers
Convinced that Santa Claus doesn't exist, six-year-old Susan Walker doesn't expect much this Christmas. Filled with doubt, the tiny sceptic is about to reconsider when the mysterious Kris Kringle, a white-bearded stranger with a heart of gold, suddenly enters her life. Now, the amiable man has his work cut out to prove that the legendary figure in the red suit is Christmas' ultimate symbol. With Christmas just around the corner, will a sprinkle of faith help innocent Susan believe and fulfil her warm wishes?—Nick Riganas
Six-year-old Susan Walker discovers that dreams do come true if you really believe. She has doubts about childhood's most enduring miracle, Santa Claus. Her mother, Dorey, told her the "secret" about him a long time ago, so she doesn't expect to receive the most important gifts on her Christmas list. But after meeting a special department store Santa who's convinced that he's the real thing, she is given the most precious gift of all, something to believe in.—Official synopsis
When Tony Falacchi, the Cole's Santa Claus, gets drunk before taking part in the Thanksgiving Day parade, Dorey Walker, the store's director of special events, fires him and must find a replacement immediately. She spots an old man berating the drunk Tony, and begs him to take over. He claims his name is Kris Kringle. He does so well during the parade that he is immediately hired to be the store's main Santa for the holiday period. All the children begin to believe that he is the real Santa, with the exception of Dorey's six-year-old daughter, Susan. Dorey's boyfriend and neighbor, Bryan Bedford, does his best to convince Susan to believe. While being babysat by Kris one night, she shares her Christmas wish with him. She would like a dad, a house (used every year for the Cole's catalog photoshoot) and a baby brother. He asks her if she got all those things, she would then begin to believe in Santa. She agrees that she would.
Kris is credited with bringing in many more sales to Cole's than previous years until one night, when he is arrested and sectioned for supposedly assaulting a man on the street. Later, the truth emerges, that the man he assaulted was Tony, who set him up to be arrested, with the help of staff from Shopper's Express.
With the help of Bryan, Dorey pushes Kris' case to court, and drums up support from him from the public. It soon becomes clear that to get him acquitted and freed, Bryan must prove that not only does Santa exist, but that Kris is the real one. It is a seemingly impossible task until he comes up with a plan that requires some help from Susan. The next day in court the proceeding is interrupted by her giving Judge Henry Harper a Christmas card with a $1 bill inside. He notices a red circle on a specific part of it, which says "In God We Trust". He realizes that it was issued like all money by the government which represents the people, and if they can believe in God enough to have this message printed on legal tender on faith alone without any physical proof then by that same logic he can say that Santa exists in the form of Kris Kringle.
Following the court case, Dorey and Bryan are manipulated by Kris into realizing their true feelings for each other, and married in a very small ceremony after the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. On Christmas morning, Susan wakes to the news of the marriage and is elated to see that she has part one of her Christmas wish, a dad. Together, Susan, Dorey, and Bryan drive out to the catalog house and upon arrival, they find that Kris has arranged for them to purchase it. Susan, now having got two out of three of her wishes, excitedly runs into the house to look at her bedroom. Dorey and Bryan ask her what part three of her Christmas wish was, and she triumphantly announces that it was a baby brother. They both look at each other, shocked, before glancing down at Dorey's stomach. The film ends with the belief that Susan has now gained all three of her Christmas wishes.
