When Tangie, a teddy bear goes into the Smile-erator on his head, his smile is put on upside down, causing him to end up on the bargain bin on Christmas Eve with other misfit toys, then onto Winkle's Emporium, a discount store. There, Tangie does his level best over the coming year to become a part of some family. He spends his time in Winkle's front window with Jack, a Jack-in-the-box with claustrophobia and Bird, a cuckoo clock bird with agoraphobia.