THE MISTLETOES synopsis

LOGLINE

A little Dutch girl from Holland and seven musical elves from the North Pole defeat a wicked witch with the help of Sinterklaas at Christmas. 

PITCH

Reminiscent of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Mistletoes are Joyful, Cheerful, Merry, Peaceful, Carol, Nightfall, and Claus, who come bearing gifts for Sinterklaas in Holland. The magical Mistletoes live with the aunt of a twelve-year-old Dutch girl named Daniëlle Kappel, whose witch of a stepmother tries to kill her and her father until Sinterklaas and his elves help the heroine save herself and find true love. 

SYNOPSIS

A twelve-year-old Dutch girl named Daniëlle Kappel lives in a castle on the Holland coast with the windmills. She places her wooden shoes next to the fireplace for Sinterklaas, kissing her father on the cheek. She also sits her large Christmas bouquet of mistletoe from her friend Niels on the fireplace mantle. Flipping open her father’s pocket watch and looking at the late hour, she hopes to receive many gifts for Christmas. After all, her father is a very rich merchant who sends ships all over the world and trades rare goods in foreign lands. When she was young, she and her mother would spend hours in the fields by the ocean, frolicking by the windmills. Her mother’s sister lives in a cottage on the coast with seven musical elves from the blistering cold North Pole. Very few people know that the elves, also called the Mistletoes, live with her aunt, who hides them in her attic. Sinterklaas asks them to live in Holland instead of the North Pole, so they can deliver gifts for him at Christmas. Of course, the Mistletoes pretend to be humans, but they have magical powers in song that they use for good deeds. Their names are Joyful, Cheerful, Merry, Peaceful, Carol, Nightfall, and Claus. 

This Christmas, the Mistletoes explain to Daniëlle that they found her aunt dead. Apparently, her aunt could never find the words to tell Daniëlle, but her stepmother is a witch and killed not only her mother, but now her aunt. At once, the Christmas Dutch Girl and the seven musical elves set out to save Daniëlle’s father from the witchy stepmother. Daniëlle must get to her father before the hands on his pocket watch stop, or the witch will have killed him. 

When Daniëlle and the elves reach her father’s home, Daniëlle bursts through the castle with the Mistletoes who sing in full voice. The witch—who grew as big as the ceiling—holds a large knife at Daniëlle’s father’s throat, as the Mistletoes sing in harmony, shrinking the witch back to normal size. Before the witch can regain her large stature, Sinterklaas lands in the front yard with Rudolph and his sleigh of reindeer. Daniëlle wrestles with the witch until she drops the knife on the kitchen floor. Her father stabs the witch in the heart until she dies. As the years go by, Sinterklaas brings both Daniëlle and Meneer Kappel true love. Dead as a doornail, the wicked witch never bothers anyone in Holland again, and Christmas lives on in peace.

Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters