Emmit and Ma otter.They are poor,without a father,and want to get something very special for Christmas.For Emmit,he sees a used guitar for 40$ while they are in the city,and Ma wants to make his Christmas a special one.But Emmit wants to buy Ma something special too.They enter in a talent contest,and have to take something from each other in order to get in.Emmit puts a hole in the washtub to join a Jugband,and Ma has to sell Pa's tool chest to buy fabric for a dress.Only one can win...can either of them?