Hardly the saintly sprite his famed sibling is, Fred Claus (Vince Vaughn) is a loser who hits up younger brother Santa (Paul Giamatti) for a hefty loan. All he has to do to get the cash is spend a few weeks helping out at Santa's workshop. But with a sinister efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey) nosing around the North Pole, it may fall on Fred to save Christmas from being cancelled for good.