On one inconspicuous Christmas Eve, a young boy is awakened from his deep sleep by the sound of a train. The boy is perplexed as few trains ever pass by his home (and even fewer end up right outside his door). Still very confused, the boy looks outside of his window and sees a train and its conductor, who looks up at the boy. To try and learn more about what he is seeing, the boy rushes downstairs and begins to speak with the train's conductor, who tells him that the train is heading to the North Pole. The boy is intrigued and decides to board the train. While on the train, he sees quite a few other children, each of whom is in their pajamas and being served hot chocolate by the train's staff.
The train very quickly embarks on its journey, traveling through various climates and obstacles (like mountains and forests). Still, the train never slows down so that the children on the train could be the first people of the year to get their Christmas gifts.
The train eventually, but quickly, arrives at the North Pole. There, the boy and the rest of the children see all of the elves waiting to send Santa off on his journey to deliver presents. The group exits the train and speaks with Santa, who decides to give the boy the first gift of Christmas and the opportunity to choose anything in the world. The boy is amazed and honored by Santa's actions and decides to get gifted one of Santa's reindeer bells. The boy puts the bell in his pajamas and the group watches as Santa flies away to deliver presents to children across the world.
The group boards the train so that they can all go home. But the boy realizes that he had lost the bell. The boy was frantic and looked everywhere for the bell but couldn't find it. The boy is dropped home by the train and goes to bed, eager to wake up the next morning.
The boy wakes up and watches as his family opens up their presents. While they open their presents, the boy's sisters find a small package tucked away near their tree. It was the bell, with a note from Santa explaining that he found it in his sleigh. The boy rings the bell, but only he and his sister can hear it. His parents cannot hear the bell and they say it must be broken.
