The Legend of the Christmas Witch

Plot

During the day, Miss Paola teaches in an Italian school, but each night at midnight she becomes the Befana, a witch over five centuries old. On every January 6 at midnight, she brings presents to well-behaved children and odd surprises to those who misbehave. One year, a dog chewed through the Rolodex she used to keep track of the children, so she failed to deliver a gift in time to a boy named Giovanni Rovasio. He blamed her for everything that went wrong afterward, including his parents' divorce.

Twenty-five years later, Giovanni had reinvented himself as Mr. Johnny, a villain who kidnapped Paola so he could take over the toy deliveries. Riccardo, one of her students, saw the kidnapping. He and five classmates searched Paola's storage cellar and found evidence of her secret identity.

Mr. Johnny's men caught the children and shoved them into a trash compactor, but Riccardo dropped his father's Swiss Army knife into the gears, jamming the machine and letting them escape. Knowing that fire is the only thing that can hurt the Befana, Mr. Johnny tied Paola to a Christmas tree and lit it on fire, using Christmas presents as kindling. At midnight she transformed into the Befana, broke free, and flew away on her broom. Mr. Johnny chased her on a jet-propelled hoverboard, made her crash, and trapped her in a bubble inside his toy factory.

The children hiked to the factory but were captured. Paola agreed to give Mr. Johnny her treasured letters from children that contained their gift wishes, so they went to the mountain where the letters were hidden. Meanwhile, Paola's boyfriend Giacomo arrived at her home, found her missing, and discovered her secret in the storage cellar.

Her pet owl guided him to the toy factory, where he freed the children. Giacomo and the children reached the mountain and fought Mr. Johnny, but during the struggle both Mr. Johnny and Paola fell from a cliff. The next January 6, Riccardo found his Swiss Army knife in his stocking and saw Paola walking through town with Giacomo. Mr. Johnny swore he would get revenge.