The showman of 20th century choreography, Maurice Béjart, stages his distinctive rendering of the beloved Christmas ballet "The Nutcracker" using Tchaikovsky's entire score, supplemented with waltz and accordion music performed onstage by the renowned Yvette Horner. Béjart uses the original St. Petersburg tale as a launching point from which to evoke the recollections and feelings of his life's journey from childhood.

Pablo is a twenty-year-old man who wants to be a musician in order to be appreciated by his mother and find a male partner he can share his love with. He finds one, but because of his demanding behaviour, he is soon alone again. He tries to become a French horn player in the Youth Spain National Orchestra, but the examiner turns out to be his father, who's been living apart from his family and doesn't really accept Pablo's sexual trends. Once Pablo fails in his exam, he feels very depressed. When another French horn player from Valencia hasn't got a place to sleep, Pablo takes him home to his house. The next morning, however, he finds a girl named Salome inside of his bed.