One evening close to Christmas, the tree, having seen the splendidly trimmed Christmas trees standing in the windows of nearby houses, and longing to be as beautiful as they are, begs the boy to trim it too. But the boy has neither ornaments nor money to buy any, in fact he has nothing. How can he make this withered, shriveled tree look beautiful, there in the middle of a filthy, freezing pavement? And yet this night will prove to be a very different night from every other. It will be a night when dreams come true, a night of enchantment and magic.