Jake Wilkinson is a self-absorbed college student who, just days before Christmas, awakens to find himself stranded in the middle of the California desert, wearing a Santa suit and a white beard glued to his face. The butt of a payback by the football team, who thinks he double-crossed them by not providing the correct answers to a finals test, Jake has to find a way to get to New York by 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and catch up with his girlfriend, Allie, who is on the road with school stud Eddie, or risk forfeiting the vintage Porsche his father promised if his son comes home for the holidays. As Jake desperately hitchhikes his way east, the people he meets unwittingly set into motion a comedy of errors as they look to Santa for help and advice.