The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

It is the night of Christmas Eve. Everyone at little Clara's house is frantically preparing for the party. The guests start arriving. A friend of the family, Herr Drosselmeyer, and his nephew arrive. Clara feels a little amorous towards the handsome young nephew.

Herr Drosselmeyer gives Clara a nutcracker doll. After the party, Clara enters the world of dreams, only to find a battle beginning between the Nutcracker and the mice. The Nutcracker is attacked and injured by the wicked Mouse King. Herr Drosselmeyer then comes in and makes everything right, upon which the Nutcracker turns into the dashing young officer of a nephew whom Clara had secret longings for, and he and Clara dance a romantic pas de deux. However, the Mouse King then turns him back into the Nutcracker doll.

As if by magic, the lounge transforms into a winter wonderland in which bright glistening snowflakes are falling. Herr Drosselmeyer saves Clara and the Nutcracker, whisking them away by balloon to an enchanted land, but only to find a pursuing party led by the Mouse King already there.

The Nutcracker doll thereupon attacks and eventually defeats the Mouse King, and a magnificent celebration gets underway in the Kingdom of Sweets. Clara becomes the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the nephew, the Prince, and they dance a glorious pas de deux.

All of a sudden, Clara wakes up in her bedroom. Together, she and brother Fritz see off Herr Drosselmeyer and his nephew. Clara is left wondering "Was this all a dream?"