With the aid of his magical Horse of Power, a young archer fulfills the increasingly difficult requests of Tsar Ivan and wins the hand of Princess Vasilissa.
Seven-year-old Christine spends Christmas Eve helping her great-grandmother decorate her tree and sharing the story of a very special ornament that came from Rumania many years before.
In 1845, Cobtown's Christmas is affected by the failure of the organ at the party being given to feed the residents' pets and by the arrival of a mysterious blind man who does not speak English.
Two rascally weavers convince the emperor they are making him beautiful new clothes, visible only to those fit for their posts, but during a royal procession in which he first wears them, a child whispers that the emperor has nothing on.
Though the emperor banishes the nightingale in preference for a jeweled mechanical imitation, the little bird remains faithful and returns years later when the emperor is near death and no one else can help him.
In Cobtown in 1845, ten-year-old Lucky describes in her diary how mysterious and terrifying screams lead to the discovery of a little striped piglet whom the townspeople name Oinkey.