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On Christmas Eve, Maria and Frederic Stahlbaum are eager to find out what gifts await them in the parlor. They know that Godfather Drosselmeier has arrived, and he always brings them unique mechanical figurines. The children are delighted when Doctor and Mrs. Stahlbaum finally allow them to enter the parlor. Maria receives new dolls and a dress, Fred gets more toy soldiers to add to his miniature army, and Drosselmeier shows off his latest invention, a mechanical castle with moving figurines. Less than impressed by the repetitive motions of the castle, Maria wanders away from the display and discovers a small figurine sitting alone on a table. He is rather ugly given that his proportions are distorted, yet Maria becomes quite fond of him. Doctor Stahlbaum explains that the figurine is a nutcracker and puts him in Maria’s care, a position she is proud to hold. To her dismay, Fred breaks the Nutcracker when he gives him a large nut to crack. Maria comforts the Nutcracker despite the snide remarks that Drosselmeier makes about him.
At the end of the night, Maria begs her mother to allow her to stay up longer so that she can take care of the Nutcracker. Mrs. Stahlbaum reluctantly agrees, and Maria puts him to sleep in a doll bed. Suddenly, she hears a rattling sound coming from the glass case of figurines and sees Drosselmeier speaking from atop the grandfather clock. A Mouse King with seven heads soon emerges from the wall followed by his army, and in a moment of terror, Maria backs into the toy case and cuts her arm on the broken glass. Meanwhile, her beloved Nutcracker has come to life and leads his own army of toy soldiers into battle against the mice. This endeavor initially seems unsuccessful as the Mouse King continues to make advances, but Maria manages to throw her shoe at him and save the Nutcracker from defeat.
Maria awakes the next morning and tries to tell her family about the battle, but they dismiss her story as a dream brought on by sickness. As she recovers from her injury, Drosselmeier tells the story of how the Nutcracker came to be so ugly. The tale involves the beautiful Princess Pirlipat and a vengeful Mouse Queen, Lady Mouserings. When Lady Mouserings’ curse left Princess Pirlipat deformed, the King demanded that the royal watchmaker, Christian Elias Drosselmeier, find a cure. He discovered that his nephew had the power to crack the nut Crackatuck and break the curse, but Lady Mouserings stopped Young Drosselmeier from doing so and he became deformed as a result. Maria suspects that her Nutcracker is really Drosselmeier’s enchanted nephew.
A few nights later, Maria awakens to find the Mouse King at her bedside. He demands that she sacrifice her sugar plums and gingerbread to him, threatening to eat the Nutcracker if she fails to do so. Willing to do whatever it takes to keep the Nutcracker safe, Maria leaves her sweets out for the Mouse King. He returns night after night, however, asking for more of Maria’s precious gifts. She takes the Nutcracker out of the glass case to clean him up while she laments her predicament, and he manages to ask her for a sword. After convincing Fred to lend her one, Maria gives the sword to the Nutcracker who then uses it to defeat the Mouse King. The Nutcracker thanks Maria for helping him and leads her through a wardrobe into the Puppet Kingdom. He guides her through many different sweets-inspired locales until they reach the capital, Confectionville. The people of Confectionville welcome the Nutcracker home as a prince, and he invites Maria into Marchpane Castle. As the Nutcracker relays the tale of his battle against the Mouse King, Maria’s view of the Puppet Kingdom fades away.
Maria’s mother wakes her up and, once again, refuses to believe the story of her journey with the Nutcracker. While Maria gives up trying to convince her family of her experiences, she still cares deeply for the Nutcracker and tells him that she would never reject him because of his appearance. She then faints, and when she wakes up, Mrs. Stahlbaum announces the arrival of Drosselmeier’s nephew. He pulls Maria aside and reveals that he was indeed her beloved Nutcracker, and he invites her to rule over the Puppet Kingdom alongside him as his wife. She happily agrees, and a year later, she heads to Marchpane Castle.
