Committee co-chairmen Howard Cunningham and Al DelVecchio must somehow replace accidentally drunk magician, the Amazing Randi, star of the Leopard Lodge's annual Sunnyside Orphanage fund-raising dinner show.

A cold, snowy Wisconson Christmas finds Howard Cunningham trying to convince his family to put up a new-fangled, artificial tree, and a mysterious sailor delivers a gift from Fonzie's father, forcing the Fonz to deal with his long-suppressed feelings of abandonment.