Thomas is puzzled as to how Bertie always wins their races. Bertie reveals he uses a shortcut as he's been re-routed. Thomas is annoyed by this, until Percy gives him the idea of using his own shortcut.

Diesel and Hiro have very different approaches when it comes to dealing with Troublesome Trucks. Hiro prefers to be gentle and kind, while Diesel wants to show them who is boss. After an incident with some milk that Diesel spilled, he tries to get Hiro to toughen up with the trucks.

James is telling ghost stories, which frightens Percy. James boasts about being brave, so Henry challenges him to take "The Flying Kipper". James backs down after he smells the stench of the fish, and tricks Henry into believing it was all a dream.

Stephen is given the job of collecting ingredients for the afternoon tea at Ulfstead Castle. Spencer is not impressed, as he believes he's too slow. Later, on his way back to the castle, Gordon pulls up behind him and pushes him up to the junction. Spencer is shocked, so Stephen keeps up his charade by having other engines push him.

Edward is due to take a train from the docks to vicarstown, but is delayed. Harvey is the only engine available, but he is not sure if he can do it as it is the first time he has pulled a long train until Porter encourages him. However, he finds the task more difficult than he first thought.

While Salty is being sent to the Dieselworks, Porter arrives at the docks to help out. Salty is convinced he has been sent to replace him, and becomes careless when he wants to return to the docks as soon as possible.

The turntable at Tidmouth Sheds freezes in one position and the engines argue about who should get the one accessible berth. It is eventually agreed that Percy should get to use it as he will need someplace to rest after pulling the mail train. The other engines search for other places to sleep, but Gordon turns every shed down.

Diesel 10 is cross that the Dieselworks has less decorations than Tidmouth Sheds. In an attempt to gain more, Diesel 10 steals Christmas decorations over the course of a few days, unbeknownst to the Steam Team. Percy is upset by this as it does not reflect the spirit of the holiday, and is determined to find out who it is.

Sir Robert Norramby is organizing the Ulfstead Christmas Fair, and Sir Topham Hatt is asked to play Santa Claus. However, when he is told he will have to drive a sleigh, he begins to worry as he's never driven one before. When the sleigh finally arrives, Thomas has to rescue him when it breaks away on a hill.

Thomas hides his snowplough on a siding, and pretends to not know where it went when questioned. Sir Topham Hatt leaves Thomas in the shed, resulting in Emily having to clear his branch line for him. She does not like the snow at first, but grows to enjoy it.

A team of railway inspectors visit the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre, and question whether Sir Topham Hatt needs two fire engines. He dismisses these concerns, but Flynn starts to believe that what they said was true when Belle puts out every fire before he does.

Bill and Ben are startled by Connor racing about, and believe he must be full of himself. The twins want revenge, and take advantage of his eagerness to win races by tricking Connor into thinking a little tank engine is beating him.

After Percy suffers a bout of bad luck, he starts to wonder if he is simply an unlucky engine. When he tells Stephen, Stephen decides to give Percy his old lucky horsehoe. Things seem to turn for the better for Percy, but when he realises he's lost it, he feels he cannot rescue Bill and Ben.

Percy is making his first ever mail delivery up to Ulfstead Castle. To scare him, James makes up a story of a ghost engine who haunts the castle. Percy meets up with Stephen, who does not believe him until James arrives and tricks the both of them into being scared.

Harold's rotors jam up, so Duck has to take him to the rescue centre in order to be repaired, with Thomas as his back engine, to make sure Harold can fit through any low or narrow gaps. Thomas wants to show Harold Sodor's sights from the ground, but Duck wants to go directly and promptly to their destination. The two mindsets collide when each engine wants to perform the task their own way

The Fat Controller warns the engines that the track at Knapford Bend is buckled, and to not be silly. However, Paxton finds the buckled track so fun to travel over that he forgets what he said. Thomas joins in too, but reverses too far and bumps into Toby at the water tower, dousing his fire. After overhearing Toby saying Thomas has "lost his puff" to Stafford, Paxton feels terrible and tries to find Thomas' "lost puff."

Charlie finds an elephant on the track and tries to alert the other engines, but no-one will take him seriously as they believe it's just another joke. Charlie starts to doubt himself, but discovers the elephant really did escape from the Sodor Animal Park and has to search for someone that'll believe him.

Whilst delivering some stone to Ulfstead Castle, Luke meets Sir Robert Norramby and Millie for the first time. Luke and Millie decide to swap jobs for the day to get a taste of what each other's everyday work is like.

As the Blue Mountain Quarry is winding down for the night, Rheneas discovers a deer. Luke takes a liking to it, and wants to keep his new friend around. The others are not sure the quarry is the right place for an animal, but Luke is determined to prove them wrong.

Henry and Hiro take on some bad coal and start puffing out black smoke, but they do not notice until Duck informs them about it. Henry is worried and goes back to the sheds to wait for the new shipment of coal, but Hiro is determined to get his jobs done, regardless of the coal he's burning.

Stafford is disappointed children do not cheer for him the way they do for Thomas, and discovers it's because he makes little noise. Thomas and Percy feel sorry for him and teach him some noises that steam engines make, and Stafford soon learns to replicate them. Things go awry when his noisiness causes confusion and delay with a task that requires quietness.

When one of Caitlin's tender brakes locks on, Caitlin's train is delayed until nightfall. By the time she reaches the Vicarstown Bridge, it is already closed for maintenance, so she has to spend the night on Sodor. She is so excited that she keeps everyone awake the entire night.

During a near-collision with Paxton, Gordon's boiler is damaged by a stone from the diesel's train. Gordon refuses to get looked over, and continues on. He soon craves more water as his boiler his leaking, but his constant stops annoy the passengers. Gordon becomes so impatient that his boiler nearly runs dry.

Winston feels ashamed that Sir Topham Hatt cannot drive him well, especially when the other engines tease him about it. Sir Topham Hatt constantly forgets to put on the brake, so Winston uses that idea to his advantage in an attempt to go driverless.

Scruff normally does not mind the way he looks, and is horrified when he is told to get a repaint. However, he soon becomes impressed with his new shiny coat, and refuses to work at the Waste Dump because he does not want to get dirty.

Cranky is overloaded with work, and the dockside becomes a terrible mess. Since the Steamworks is empty that day, Kevin is chosen to help him. However, Cranky does not think he needs help even as the work piles up.