Santa Claus' pet donkey, Spieltoe, narrates the story of a small donkey named Nestor with abnormally long ears, who lived in the days of the Roman Empire. Every animal in the stable ridicules Nestor because of his large ears. This seemingly comes to a halt during the celebration of winter solstice; however, when the cruel stable owner Olaf refused to feed Nestor out of him being a burden on the farm, all the animals feeling sympathetic and guilty for the way Nestor is being treated apologize for their misjudgment and making him feel bad about himself. Nestor's mother then gives Nestor some old socks from Olaf's wife to cover up his ears.
That night, soldiers arrive from the Roman Empire in need of young donkeys. After removing the socks from Nestor’s ears, the soldiers think that Olaf, was trying to trick them. Olaf offers to give them Nestor for free, but the soldiers instead take all of the other donkeys for free but they leave Nestor. Enraged for not receiving money for his donkeys, Olaf throws Nestor out into a blizzard while not caring if he freezes and tells him to never return, Nestor's mother breaks out of her stall out of anger and runs out to search for him. After finding Nestor in the snow, his mother takes him to a small resting area where she shields him from the cold. The next morning, Nestor tearfully mourns his mother's death-(with her body covered in a pile of snow), as she had froze to death and sacrificed her life to protect him.
Later, Nestor meets a cherub named Tilly. She says they need to travel to Bethlehem, telling him "Your ears can do wondrous things no other ears can do. The sounds they hear will guide you on a path that's straight and true, and then you will save another, as your mother once saved you." They travel across the desert sands for many months, and when they finally get to the outskirts of Bethlehem, Tilly tells Nestor to wait and she flies back up to Heaven. Even though he finds a rundown old stable, nobody buys him.
Mary and Joseph are expecting Jesus, they take Nestor because of his "gentle eyes", but are caught in a sandstorm. In the midst of the storm, Nestor hears Tilly's voice, but recognizes it as his mother's, and she tells him to follow the voices of the angels. Nestor guides Mary and Joseph through the storm, while wrapping Mary in his ears to keep her warm, soon arriving at Bethlehem. They find the stable where Mary subsequently gives birth to baby Jesus, Nestor finds his way back to his home stable where he is hailed as hero by Olaf and the other animals.
In addition to Akikazu Kono, this is Rankin/Bass' second and last "Animagic" stop motion puppet production to be supervised by another Japanese animator, Satoshi Fujino, who also previously worked on The Little Drummer Boy, Book II.
The special was released in 2000 with The Year Without a Santa Claus. It was later included in The Complete Rankin/Bass Christmas Collection DVD in 2022 and Blu-ray in 2023.
^Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 209. ISBN9781476672939.
^Recurring characters include Rudolph (voiced by Billie Mae Richards), Santa Claus (voiced by Stan Francis), and Mrs. Claus (voiced by Peg Dixon) in this special. Various actors portray the other reindeer.
^Recurring characters include Frosty the Snowman (voiced by Jackie Vernon), Santa (voiced by Paul Frees), and Professor Hinkle Tinkerton (voiced by Billy De Wolfe) in this special. Santa's reindeer also feature.
^Recurring characters include Santa (voiced by Mickey Rooney), Mrs. Jessica Claus (voiced by Robie Lester), and S.D. Kluger (voiced by Fred Astaire) in this special. Rudolph and Santa's other reindeer also feature.
^Recurring characters include the Easter Bunny (voiced by Casey Kasem), and Santa (voiced by Frees) in this special. Santa's reindeer also feature.
^Recurring characters in this special include Santa (voiced by Allen Swift), alongside his featured reindeer.
^Recurring characters include Santa (voiced by Rooney), Mrs. Claus (voiced by Shirley Booth), Snow Miser (voiced by Dick Shawn), Heat Miser (voiced by George S. Irving), and Mother Nature (voiced by Rhoda Mann) in this special. Rudolph and Santa's other reindeer also feature.
^Recurring characters include Easter Bunny (voiced by Robert Morse and Burl Ives), and Santa (voiced by Frees) in this special. Santa's reindeer also feature.
^Recurring characters include Frosty (voiced by Vernon), Mrs. Crystal Frosty (voiced by Shelley Winters), and Jack Frost (voiced by Frees) in this special.
^Recurring characters include Rudolph (voiced by Richards) and Santa (voiced by Frees) in this special. Santa's other reindeer also feature.
^Recurring characters include Easter Bunny (voiced by Skip Hinnant), and S.D. Kluger (voiced by Astaire) in this special.
^Recurring characters in this special include Santa (voiced by Frees), alongside Rudolph and his other featured reindeer.
^Recurring characters in this special include Santa Claus during a scene which compares the Ghost of Christmas Present to him (both characters were voiced by Frees).
^The recurring character is Jack Frost (voiced by Robert Morse) in this special.
^Recurring characters include Rudolph (voiced by Richards), Frosty (voiced by Vernon), Santa (voiced by Rooney), Mrs. Claus (voiced by Darlene Conley), Crystal (voiced by Winters), and Jack Frost (voiced by Frees) in this special. Santa's other reindeer also feature.
^The recurring characters in the special include Santa (voiced by Swift), alongside his featured reindeer.
^The recurring character is Frosty (voiced by John Goodman) in this special. Mother Nature is also referenced in the short.
^Recurring characters include Rudolph (voiced by Kathleen Barr), Santa (voiced by Garry Chalk), and Mrs. Claus (also voiced by Barr) in this film. Santa's other reindeer, and various other characters from the 1964 original also feature.
^Recurring characters include Frosty (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke), and Professor Tinkerton (voiced by Kath Soucie) in this special.
^Recurring characters include Snow Miser (voiced by Juan Chioran), Heat Miser (voiced by Irving), Santa (voiced by Rooney), Mrs. Claus (voiced by Catherine Disher), and Mother Earth (voiced by Patricia Hamilton) in this special. Santa's reindeer also feature.
