In a Halloween homage to Miracle on 34th Street, a family learns a lesson of friendship and acceptance.

When the hulking and reclusive Mr. Shelley moves in next door, eight-year-old Lucas Walker takes every precaution to avoid the spooky old man. His eighty-year-old grandmother Dottie, however, has no such reservations. Short on volunteers for her church's Halloween Haunted House, Dottie recruits Mr. Shelley into service. The shy old man proves to be a sensation, but just as a friendship with Lucas blossoms, Lucas' father -- a widowed workaholic attorney -- learns that Mr. Shelley is claiming to be the actual Frankenstein Monster.

Despite reassurances by a psychiatrist that Mr. Shelley is harmless, Lucas' father remains troubled, especially since he has raised Lucas to reject all notions of fantasy and the supernatural. Still, his mother Dottie dotes on Mr. Shelley, and Lucas and his friends are enraptured by this gentle giant's stories about Halloween.

But when a raucous conflict with the church's minister erupts, Mr. Shelley finds himself taken to a mental hospital where, in despair, he deliberately fails a mental examination to ensure his commitment.

All seems lost until Lucas' father is won over by Dottie and Lucas, and agrees to represent Mr. Shelley in a court hearing to secure his release. To achieve that, Lucas' father must argue that Mr. Shelley is sane because he is, in fact, Frankenstein's Monster -- but even so, it's going to take a miracle for Mr. Shelley to win.