There are real elves in the attic of the old Mayor's House. The elves do everything they can to ensure that the children Mads and Mette have a real Christmas in the Mayor's House. In the midst of the Christmas rush, they make sugar and flour disappear so that no one can bake Christmas cookies—neither the baker nor the citizens of Gammelby. The mayor is unhappy about the strange events and can only think about whether the good ship "Hope," which is supposed to bring new supplies, has been wrecked...
A boy, as seen through three ages and episodes of his life: as a small boy having a boy cousin as his house guest, as a high-school boy in abject love, and as a young stud trying to bed down a nurse....