Plot
Anna Claus has Santa's workshop running so efficiently in December 1910, that the team has completed all the toys and presents a week ahead of schedule (song "Seven Days 'Til Christmas"). She tries to offer her husband Nicholas a new, more efficient, route around the world, but he is preoccupied by the letters to Santa as Christmas approaches. Feeling ready for a change in her life, Anna decides to assert her independence by testing the route herself, flying the sleigh pulled by Santa's reindeer for an impromptu journey (song "Mrs. Santa Claus").
A sudden storm forces her to make an emergency landing near the Statue of Liberty. She befriends a stable boy called Marcello, who looks at an injury suffered by Cupid, which he decides will require a week of rest to recover. He offers to take "Mrs. North" to the best boarding house in the city; along the way he indicates the marvelous melting pot nature of his neighborhood, and Mrs. North enjoys the sights and sounds of a bustling New York City (song "Avenue A").
At the boarding house, host Mrs. Lowenstein worries that her daughter Sadie is attracting police attention for soapboxing in favor of women's suffrage. After Mrs. North earns the trust of a young boarder called Nora Kilkenny, the child helps her get a job with a toy manufacturer whose owner is motivated by greed. He instructs his child laborers that the toys they make need only last until Christmas (song "A Tavish Toy"). As the new Tavish company supervisor, Mrs. North dispels any worries that she is too old to be working with the children (song "Almost Young") and after her concerns about toy quality are ignored, she vows to reform conditions at the company.
Santa begins to worry about his wife after Arvo, his head elf, reveals that she's been gone for two days. Meanwhile in New York, Mrs. North helps Sadie gather a crowd to demand votes for women (song "Suffragette March"), whilst Marcello and Sadie share a mutual attraction, despite their apparent incompatibility (song "We Don't Go Together at All"). Outside a vaudeville show, Mrs. North and Nora cement their friendship and vow to help one another (song "Whistle"). Back at the North Pole, devoid of his usual cheer, Santa expresses how deeply he misses his lifelong missus (song "Dear Mrs. Santa Claus").
At the toy factory, Mrs. North has organized a work slowdown and she is promptly fired, with Nora leaving as a show of solidarity (song "Whistle" reprise). Clandestinely entering the factory via the chimney, Mrs. North rallies the children to organize a citywide strike and crusade for labor reforms. At the Christmas ball the next evening, Sadie raises a toast to Mrs. North and all the lives she's touched since her arrival.
After learning that all of the reindeer are fit to fly, Mrs. Claus realizes she's ready to return to her husband's side (song "He Needs Me"). Back at the stables, Tavish has deduced Mrs. North's true identity and is determined to prevent Santa's Christmas deliveries, but Mrs. Claus resolves the conflict between them with genorosity.
On Christmas Eve, Santa invites Anna to ride beside him for the first time, using the new route she has devised. Aboard the flying sleigh, Anna and Santa are thrilled to be reunited and express their shared devotion (song "The Best Christmas of All").
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