Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever (2023)

Film and Plot Synopsis

The winter holidays are turning out to be especially stressful for Greg Heffley this year. After accidentally damaging someone else’s property with his best friend Rowley, Greg worries he won’t get the gift he so desperately wants for Christmas. To make matters worse, a snowstorm hits the town, and the entire family is trapped indoors for days. With Christmas right around the corner, will Greg be able to be on his best behavior? (Courtesy of Disney+)

‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever’ Movie Summary

During the Christmas season, Greg Heffley (Wesley Kimmel) is endeavoring to remain on Santa’s “nice” list so that he can get the new video game console, the Mega Station 9000, that he desperately wants. With only two weeks to go, Greg looks to be in the clear until his mother, Susan Heffley (Erica Cerra), attempts to put the family into the holiday spirit and pulls out Elfrendo, a creepy stuffed elf doll that her grandmother made for her when she was a child. Elfrendo supposedly watches the children’s every move for Santa to make sure they are deserving of Christmas gifts. Greg does not like Elfrendo and is disturbed by the bizarre looking doll.

Not long after, Greg recruits his best friend Rowley Jefferson (Spencer Howell) to build a snowman on the front lawn with him. However, the two of them inadvertently build a snowball so large that it rips up the grass from the front lawn. At the same time, the town’s snowplow woman, Gabby (Lisa Ann Walter), is accosted by a group of hooligan children with snowballs down the street from the boys. Up the hill, Greg and Rowley accidentally knock their snowball down the street which collides with Gabby’s snowplow and damages the blade. Gabby’s mistakenly believes that Greg and Rowley are part of hooligans and chases after them. The two boys run from the snowplow driver and eventually lose her. Fearful that they will be able to be identified by their clothes, they drop off their winter clothes into a dumpster.

When Greg returns home, his mother takes the entire family on a Christmas drive through town. Along the way, Greg discovers that the dumpster is actually a toy donation bin. The next day, the town is covered with wanted posters of the assailants on the snowplow, and Greg and Rowley plan to get their clothes out of the donation bin. However, the plan is delayed when a vicious winter storm hits the town and snows everyone in.

Greg and his family are forced to remain indoors until the storm passes, which could take days. The situation is made worse when the power goes out to the house. The tight quarters and constant family interaction begins to cause tension within the family. Susan tries to instill some holiday spirit to lighten the mood. Greg’s father, Frank (Chris Diamantopoulos), attempts to keep inventory and notices things are suddenly missing. Greg’s brother, Rodrick (Hunter Dillon), tries to power the doorbell camera in an attempt to find the snowball culprits identities once he learns there is a reward for their capture. Rodrick also mistakenly believes that the snowball culprits stole Greg and Rowley’s things to commit the crime. The family begins to suffer from cabin fever and starts arguing with each other. Matters are made worse when the water pipes freeze and burst, leaving the basement of the house flooded. Additionally, Greg’s younger brother Manny (Gracen Newton) goes missing and the family searches the house for him. They find him and discover that he has been hoarding much of their supplies. However, Greg does learn some good news when he discovers that his family did get him his game console.

Eventually, the family starts to calm down and since its Christmas Eve, they all agree to open one present. Greg hopes that his one gift will be the game console, but he is disappointed to learn that his one gift is clothes from his grandmother. However, the family notices that the storm has finally ceased, and Greg sneaks out of the house to enact his plan. Along the way, he recruits Rowley to join him. The friends make their way to the location of the toy donation bin. However, they find it buried in snow and the two must clear the snow to access the bin. Greg finds their things, but Rowley abandons him when Gabby arrives. She mistakenly believes that Greg shoveled all the snow out of the parking lot surrounding the donation bin out of kindness. Gabby offers to drive Greg home. Along the way, Greg learns that Gabby is a single mother who only does snow plowing as a side job to support her son, Tyler, and herself. When Greg tells her that he wants a Mega Station 9000 for Christmas, Gabby informs him that her son wanted one as well, but she couldn’t afford to get him one. Arriving at Greg’s house, Gabby notices the clothing that Greg retrieved from the donation bin. Realizing that he was one of the snowball culprits, she does not call the police on him and instead calls him a good kid and wishes him a Merry Christmas before leaving.

Greg enters his home just as the power is being restored in the neighborhood and his family begins to celebrate. The family notices a police car pulling up in front of the house and realize that Greg is the snowball culprit. The family decides to work together to hide the evidence and cover for Greg, but Greg decides to turn himself in. Greg goes outside to surrender, but the two police officers (Gabriel Iglesias and Ego Nwodim) inform the Heffleys that they are merely there to gather donations for the toy bin since the storm prevented many people from making donations. Greg decides to give up his Mega Station to Gabby and Tyler. In the end, the Heffleys are a much closer family after the adventure, and Greg promises himself that he will get the video game console the next year instead. Greg also throws Elfrendo into the trash, but the mysterious elf continues to come back and watch over Greg.