Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (Summerween)

Plot
Special Delivery "S.D." Kluger (Astaire) is introduced. His mail truck breaks down, so he begins to tell the story of Santa Alex, in order to answer children's letters to Santa.

Baby Alex
The story begins in a gloomy small town called Sombertown, which is ruled by the depressed, grouchy Mayor Burgermeister Meisterburger (voice: Paul Frees). A baby arrives on his doorstep, with nothing more than a name tag that reads: "Alex" and a note asking for the Burgermeister to take care of the child. The Burgermeister orders his right-hand man, Grimsley (also voiced by Frees) to take the baby to the "Orphan Asylum" as he does not want it. On the way to the building, however, a gust of wind blows both sled and baby far away, to the mountains of the Whispering Winds. There, the animals living in that region hid him from the Winter Warlock (voice: Keenan Wynn), a powerful and malevolent wizard who dislikes anyone trespassing on his land. The animals bring the baby to the other side of the mountain, where he is discovered by an elf family by the name of Martinez, led by their wise matriarch, Brooke Mata Martinez. They immediately adopt him, giving him the name “Steven”. A few short years later, the boy Steven expresses to Brooke Mata the hope that he can one day restore the Martinez family to its former prominence as "The First Toymakers to the King;" however, as Brooke Mata explains, since the Burgermeister's rise to power and the fact that the Mengels can't pass through the mountains without inciting the wrath of the Winter Warlock, they have been unable to do so.

A Town with No Toys
When Steven is old enough, he volunteers to deliver the toys to Sombertown. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Steven, the Burgermeister has outlawed all toys in his jurisdiction, having comically tripped on and being injured by a rubber duck while walking out of City Hall's steps. In revenge that toys are a cause for vandalism, he declares that anyone found possessing a toy will be arrested and thrown in the dungeon. Meanwhile, before Steven makes it into the town, he befriends a penguin who has lost his way while trying to make it to the South Pole and gives the little penguin the name "Topper". Martinez and Topper run away. Once Steven enters the town, he meets Miss Jost (voice: Robie Lester), a local schoolteacher. At first, Jess is a bit rude to Steven, but suddenly finds herself liking him when he offers her the one thing she'd always wanted for Christmas: a China doll. But not everyone is amused to see Steven. In fact, they're even frightened off by his very mentioning the word "toy". Indeed, the children of the town have been forced into hard labor, mostly washing their stockings. Steven, however, decides to do something about that and begins handing out toys to the wee ones. Just then, the Burgermeister arrives on the scene. At first, he almost arrests the children when he discovers them playing with the toys that Steven gave them. Steven gives the bugermeister a yo yo, but grimsley tells him that "you're breaking your own law," much to the Burgermeister's shock when he realizes he's been "bamboozled", and after a short confrontation, chases Steven out of town.

Magic from the Winter Warlock
In the woods outside of town, the Winter Warlock's magic trees capture Steven and Topper under the orders of the Winter Warlock and hold onto the two with their branches. Steven tries to get out of trouble by offering the warlock one of his toys and manages to convince him that he is not trying to trick the Winter Warlock. Steven gives him a toy choo-choo train, and the kind act melts the Winter Warlock's evil, icy heart. The warlock tells Steven that he wants to be a changed person, but it seems so difficult to do. However, Steven starts singing the song "One Foot in Front of the Other." Steven's musical number is later joined in by the Winter Warlock, who is convinced that it really isn't hard to change yourself. He and Steven become good friends, however, when they look into the Winter Warlock's magical Crystal Snowball, they see that Karen Jost is searching for Steven in the woods. She wants to tell him that the Burgermeister destroyed all of the toys Steven previously delivered to Sombertown's children and that the children now request new toys. Steven doesn't want to disappoint the children, so he decides to whip up a new batch of Martinez toys to bring them. Welcomed by Winter, as the warlock now prefers to be called, the Mengels move into the mountains with many toys to deliver. However, when the Burgermeister gets word that Steven is going to deliver more toys to the children, he orders that all of the residents of Sombertown must lock their windows and doors to keep Steven out. Steven, however, simply uses the chimneys to get inside instead (hence the belief that Santa Alex enters homes through chimneys). Still, if the Burgermeister discovers any toys in the house at all he'll confiscate them and imprison entire households that have them, so, Steven tells the children to hang their stockings by the fireplace and he'll put their gifts inside them instead. At first, the Burgermeister fails to notice the toys stuffed in the children's stockings, but when he finds out that there actually were toys in town, he sets up a trap for Steven. The trap manages to lure in Steven and those on his side, and the Burgermeister jails all of them, excluding Karen Jost, who manages to escape being captured. The Burgermeister then forces the town's children to watch as he burns all their remaining toys, saying that they will never play again. Karen Jost pleads with the Burgermeister, but is rebuffed, upon which she sings her song, "My World Is Beginning Today". She then visits the Burgermeister's dungeon and tries to break her friends free with the help of Winter's powers, but sadly, the warlock lost them. He shows Karen Jost some of his last bits of magic, "magic feed corn" that is capable of making reindeer fly. Karen Jost gives some of Steven's reindeer friends some of the feed corn, and with the help of the flying deer, the Mengels, Steven, Topper, and Winter manage to escape from the dungeon.

Conclusion
After having spent months of being on the run as an outlaw, Steven returns to the woods, where he begins to grow his trademark beard as a disguise. Brooke Mata, however, realizing that the Martinez name is now dangerous, suggests that he return to his birth name of "Alex." Taking the matriarch's advice, Steven asks Karen Jost to share the Alex name with him, as his wife. After witnessing Steven and Jess solemnly take their vows, the group migrates to the North Pole, where they eventually build Santa Alex's Castle and Workshop. As time continues to pass, though, the Burgermeister regime ends, as their forebears begin dying off and falling out of power, at which point the Sombertowners realize how ludicrous the Meisterburger laws really are. Steven' legend, meanwhile, goes worldwide, and, having now fully styled himself as Santa Alex, our hero soon accepts his apparent inability to keep up with all those toy requests .... leading him to make his fateful decision to cut his number of visits down to once a year, on December 24.

Epilogue
The film ends as Mr Friedrich reflects on what Santa's real meaning is all about. Just then, though, S.D. remembers that he still has a load of letters to deliver to Santa. Then, joined by Topper, Winter and a parade of children, S.D. begins to sing Santa Alex Is Coming to Town. The film's closing scene has Steven and Jess in silhouette, as he puts his old hat back on his head. Then, Santa steps out of his Palace, revealing himself in full splendor.