Following years of growing apart, Harold Lee (Cho) and Kumar Patel (Penn) have replaced each other with new friends and are preparing for their respective Yuletide celebrations. But when a mysterious package mistakenly arrive at Kumar's door on Christmas Eve, his attempts to redirect it to Harold's house ends with the "high grade" contents -- and Harold's father-in-law's prize Christmas tree -- going up in smoke. With his in-laws out of the house for the day, Harold decides to cover his tracks, rather than come clean. Reluctantly embarking on another ill-advised journey with Kumar, through New York City, their search for the perfect replacement tree takes them through party heaven -- and almost blows Christmas Eve sky high.