In the brooding mountains the wicked giantess Gryla dwells with her offspring, the mischievous Yule Lads, and the sinister Yule Cat. In the weeks before Christmas they descend to terrorize the hapless people below. While the thirteen lads will steal their sausages, slam their doors and peek through their windows, the cat will hunt down and devour any child who doesn't receive any new clothes for Christmas.

This heroic crown of sonnets tells the tale of Anna, a young girl who seeks to avoid her cruel fate by imploring her distracted mother and father to give her some new clothes - any clothes - for Christmas. As the fateful day draws ever closer and the Yule Lads mercilessly harass her family, her desperation grows by the day. Will she live to see another year, or will she become the next meal of the voracious Yule Cat?