Amy Pond and Rory Williams are trapped on a crashing space liner, and the only way the Eleventh Doctor can rescue them is to save the soul of a lonely old miser. But is Kazran Sardick, the richest man in Sardicktown, beyond redemption? And what is lurking in the fogs of Christmas Eve?

A Miller boasts to the King that his daughter can spin straw into gold. Three times the King demands she does so, promising marriage. If she fails, her life is forfeit. Three times she despairs until Rumpelstiltskin appears, spinning straw into gold in exchange for a gift. The third time the girl promises her first born child to Rumpelstiltskin, should she be queen. Years later, the new queen bears a child and Rumpelstiltskin arrives for his gift. He will only relent if within three days the queen can guess his name.