A poor young girl finds visions of happiness in the fiery flames of the matches that she lights to keep warm, set to the music of Alexander Borodin’s “String Quartet No. 2 in D Major: Third Movement: Notturno (Andante).”
It's Christmas Eve, and a little match girl is out on the cold streets trying to sell matchsticks to the people passing by. She doesn't sell a single match, so she begins to use them to try to warm herself in the snowy cold. As she lights each matchstick, a new fantastic image appears in front of her: a warm stove, a table filled with holiday food delights, a sleigh ride to her grandmother's house. As the matchsticks lose their flame, each image disappears until we see a slumped match girl cold in the snow, being greeted by her grandmother, who takes her away into the light and up to heaven. Contains tobacco depictions.