It’s Mary Richards ‘s first Christmas away from home working at station WJM-TV. In the opening scene, she’s talking with her mother on the phone about coming home for Christmas. Of course, when she asks her boss, Mr. Grant, if she can get off early Christmas Eve, he calls her into his office.

There he analyzes a ridiculously small tree that Mary put on his desk. Mr. Grant tells Mary that he hasn’t had Christmas off in seven years.

Mr. Grant: Christmas is just like any other day when you work in a newsroom. You know what I mean?

Mary: No.

Mr. Grant: Oh. You gotta work on Christmas.

Back at Mary’s apartment, she’s hanging out with Rhoda and decorating a Christmas tree. Phyllis stops by and asks to hide her daughter’s gifts at Mary’s. Mary tells Rhoda about her Christmas dilemma and having to work. Mary suggests since she doesn’t have to work Christmas Eve, she and Rhoda spend it together and Rhoda agrees.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve back at the station. Ted walks in complaining about the people down the hall having a Christmas party with Chuckles and how the newsroom can’t have a Christmas party. Mr. Grant reminds him why.

Mr. Grant: Because of what you did last year.

Mary: What’d you do, Ted?

Ted:  I don’t remember.

Mary asks Murray what happened, and he tells her that once he got a few drinks in, he felt like telling off the boss.

Mr. Grant: Except he did it on the air.

Murray and Mr. Grant go on to explain it was the President of the United States Ted told off on the air. (Oh, Ted, where are you now? This obviously was during the Nixon administration). Apparently, Ted did it because he was angry that he had sent a Christmas card and didn’t get one back.

Fred comes in and reminds anyone who is listening that he has to work New Year’s Eve too.

Mary and Murray exchange gifts. Ted passes out gifts also. Personalized record albums of The Year in Review as told by Ted Baxter.

Fred comes over and talks to Mary about not being able to go home for Christmas and starts to coerce her into working that night so he can be with his family. He says he’ll trade and work New Year’s Day for her so she can watch all the football games. Then Fred lays it on thick, saying he’s never spent Christmas Eve with his kids. Mary caves and asks him to cover so she can go home and have dinner.

Back at Mary’s apartment, Rhoda comes by with a large gift for Mary—a rotisserie oven. Mary’s ecstatic. Mary gives Rhoda a blouse. Then Rhoda tells Mary she bought a turkey for that night and Mary tells her she has to work. Rhoda leaves and Mary is left eating her sandwich before she has to return to the station.

Back at the station, Ted has given his Christmas broadcast and everyone is getting ready to leave. Mr. Grant calls Mary into the office and gives her an envelope. It’s a card and a check. A blank check. Grant grabs the check, decides what amount to fill in, pensively thinking, puts it back in the card and gives it back to Mary.

Grant discusses her working Christmas Eve for Fred and how he feels responsible for her being alone. He offers to stay and do paperwork, but Mary insists he go home.

Mary is all alone in the newsroom and is watching TV when she hears a voice coming from a speaker. The voice is looking for Fred. She goes to the microphone and talks back to the voice, informing him she’s filling in for Fred. She learns the voice is Charlie and he’s out at the transmitter. Charlie wants to end the conversation, but she wants to keep talking. She asks about the joke he was going to tell Fred and he says he can’t tell her the joke. She asks if he has any family, and he tells her about his kids and grandkids and how they’re all meeting at his son Paul’s place. He asks if she has family and she says “not tonight” and ends the conversation

Suddenly the newsroom phone rings. She answers it. There’s nobody on the other end. For good measure, Mary puts a chair against the newsroom door. Next she hears the elevator start up. Frightened, she calls Rhoda and tells her nobody is in the building and she hears the elevator. Rhoda tells her to call the police.

Mary: I can’t call the police. What am I going to tell them? That I heard the elevator?

She turns and sees shadows outside the newsroom door. She hangs up the phone and grabs a ceramic Santa as a weapon. In burst Mr. Grant, Murray and Ted and Mary is so glad to see them.

They invite her to a Christmas party at Murray’s but Mr. Grant reminds them they have to stay until midnight because the night manager always calls at two minutes to midnight to wish whoever is there a Merry Christmas.

The episode ends with Mary and Murray happily singing and Mary realizing that although she couldn’t go home for Christmas, being with her work family is already like being at home.