The film, set six years after the original, follows fifteen-year-old Ralphie as he wishes for a 1939 Mercury Eight convertible for Christmas, but crashes the car before he even owns it.

Now, Ralphie and his friends, Flick and Schwartz, must find a way to raise enough money to fix the car before Christmas.

Although billed as an "official sequel" in the trailer, the film is not directly based on any of Jean Shepherd's writings nor is he involved due to his death in 1999.

[2] A second direct sequel, which takes place 33 years after the events of the original film with most of its original cast returning, titled A Christmas Story Christmas, was released on November 17, 2022, on HBO Max and received generally better critical reception.

Ralphie does get his job back after some begging and pleading, but by Christmas Eve he finds he is still $1 short, so he and Flick rob Schwartz of his "lucky buck".

While being praised for attempts to portray 1940s-era America, much of the criticism was directed at the reliance of slapstick humor and its inferior derivation of the 1983 film.

[15] Brian Orndorf of Blu-ray.com wrote: "Shamelessly derivative and plasticized, A Christmas Story 2 will only have you wondering why you're not watching the original picture again".