Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon) rules Halloween Town but no longer enjoys being the Pumpkin King. One day, he and his trusty dog Zero discover a strange pine tree-shaped door in a tree in the forest. They go through it and discover Christmas. Jack likes Christmas so much that he rushes back home and tries to explain it to the denizens of Halloween Town. However, the goblins and ghouls of Jack’s town don’t understand at all and produce a bizarre parody. Distraught, Jack locks himself away to try to figure it out. Once he realizes the secret of Christmas, Jack decides to take it over. He has Santa (Ed Ivory) kidnapped, assigns toy-making and other Christmas tasks to the puzzled townspeople, and even has Sally (Catherine O'Hara), the girl that secretly loves him, sew a Sandy Claws suit. With the light of Zero’s nose to guide his sleigh and pulled by skeletal reindeer, Jack sets out Christmas Eve to deliver his gifts. However, his plans go awry as the real world panics at the sight of him, and the military shoots him down. When Jack recovers from the crash he realizes he needs to save Christmas by returning the true Santa. However, the kidnappers accidentally turned Santa over to the boogyman, Oogie Boogie (Ken Page), who also captured Sally when she went to rescue Santa on her own. Jack must defeat Oogie Boogie and free both Santa and Sally in order to set things right.