On Christmas Eve a young girl named Clara wants to stay up to play with her Nutcracker doll, but she must go to bed. After everyone has retired, she sneaks downstairs to be with her doll, falls asleep and dreams a magical dream: Clara is kidnapped by a Mouse King, but her Nutcracker doll--now a dashing prince--rescues her. He takes her on a journey to his kingdom, passing through the enchanted realm of the Snow Queen and into Candyland, where the Sugar Plum Fairy and her waltzing flowers dance for them.