Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) Plot Summary & Timeline

Atop a majestic hill, an excavation team, hired by a mysterious American, has commenced digging deep into the mountain’s core. The excavation leader discovers a shocking presence of sawdust buried within the earth. The wealthy American funding this endeavor is thrilled and insists on further exploration, yet emphasizes the enforcement of strange rules, such as “no smoking” and “no cursing.” Chuckling at these stipulations, the excavation chief is met with the American’s fierce insistence that he means business.

Nearby, two imaginative Finnish boys, Pietari (Onni Tommila) and Jusso (Ilmari Järvenpää), curiously observe the workers. After spying on the team, they sneak back through a self-made opening in the fence. As Christmas draws near, Pietari begins to muse about Santa Claus, only for Jusso to burst his bubble with the harsh truth: Santa isn’t real. Intrigued and a bit unsettled, Pietari dives into research that unveils ancient folklore, hinting that Santa has a darker side—stories depicting him as a sinister figure punishing naughty children in terrifying ways.

With Christmas approaching, Pietari eagerly scans the outside from his window. One fateful morning, he notices peculiar footprints on the roof of the shed right outside his room. Confident these marks aren’t from his father Rauno (Jorma Tommila), he concludes it must be Santa, potentially coming to fetch him for being naughty.

On December 23rd, Pietari and Rauno visit a nearby round-up area where villagers gather to hunt the local reindeer. As they set up an electrified pen to corral the animals, an unsettling surprise awaits them; only two reindeer appear. As Pietari, Jusso, their fathers, and another man venture towards the area from where the reindeer originate, they stumble upon a grim scene. The reindeer lie dead near the mountain’s fenced grounds. Rauno discovers the hole in the fence that Pietari and Jusso had made, leading him to conclude that it’s linked to the excavation team’s activities, which may have incited the wolves to attack the herd.

With their village’s future hanging in the balance, the men confront the excavation team but are met with a completely abandoned site and a daunting crater in the mountain’s center.

Back at Rauno and Pietari’s home, Pietari shows Jusso an excavation photo he discovered in the vacated shed on the hill. He shares a tale from his research, revealing that an ancient tribe had captured Santa ages ago and, to prevent his escape, they had frozen him under the mountain. Jusso dismisses Pietari’s concerns as mere overreactions.

The next day, Pietari notices that his father’s wolf trap has snapped. The duo inspects it, only to unearth a bloody hand, sending Rauno into a panic. He quickly contacts his friend Piiparinen and together they pull the body into Rauno’s shed. Terrified of having a corpse in their possession, Rauno considers how to dispose of it. Suddenly, the body shows signs of life, revealing an old man clutching a coat with an American passport tucked inside. As Rauno deals with Pietari witnessing the chaos, he chases the boy who is picked up by the local Sheriff.

Pietari learns from Jusso’s father that bagging potatoes is now impossible due to vanished sacks, though the potatoes remain untouched. Following the confusion, Pietari enters Jusso’s house but finds only a straw figure lying on his bed, which he assumes is Jusso’s means of playing tricks.

Pietari decides it’s time to bring Jusso’s father to their shed, where they find Piiparinen has been attacked by the old man who is now strangely seeking warmth. Efforts to communicate yield no response from the old man. Meanwhile, the urgency builds as Pietari discovers several local children are missing.

Declaring the old man to be Santa Claus proves fruitless as the adults scoff at him. The old man, wanting to escape, is chained up, yet chaos ensues when a walkie-talkie in his coat barks to life, revealing an ominous message about coming for Santa. Alarmed, the group arranges to meet at a small airport for a drop-off.

Dressing the old man in Piiparinen’s Santa outfit, they head towards the airport where the American from the excavation arrives by helicopter. They demand compensation for their lost reindeer, but the American clarifies that they have not captured Santa but a mere “helper.” Suddenly, a commotion arises as the helicopter pilot is mysteriously taken, and as the lights extinguish, a horde of old men with white beards emerges from the shadows.

Panicked, Rauno searches for Pietari and is led to a nearby hangar where a shocking sight greets them. An enormous, ice-covered creature with horns lies encased in ice at the center, surrounded by the village’s children tied up in sacks, with heaters and ovens working relentlessly to thaw the creature.

In desperation, Pietari devises a plan aimed at enticing the ‘helpers’ who seem drawn to children. Meanwhile, Piiparinen manages to take to the skies in the helicopter, using it to rescue the children from the hangar while luring the helpers after them.

As the chaos unfolds, Rauno and Jusso’s father discover dynamite and concoct a scheme to destroy the icy creature once they turn off the ovens and heaters. Pietari radios Piiparinen to guide the helicopter towards the reindeer enclosure, while he selflessly prepares to hold the gate open for the ‘helpers.’

At the critical second, just as the ‘helpers’ are about to close in on Pietari, Rauno and Jusso’s father detonate the ice creature, leaving the ‘helpers’ frozen in place. In a fortunate twist, they’ve managed to round up, all 198 ‘helpers.‘seeing an opportunity ahead, the villagers clean and groom them, repurposing them for holiday festivities under the name “Rare Exports,” shipping the newly-acquired helpers in crates around the globe, charmingly profitable for everyone involved.