Kate (Ekaterina Gordeeva) and her daughter Lizzy (Daria Grinkova) move to Kate's old home town. Kate was taught to skate by her Grandpa Alfred. The spirit of Alfred is contained in Snowden, a snowman, who wears Alfred's old hat and scarf.
Kate knows that Lizzy won't be accepted if she doesn't know how to skate. Kate pushes Lizzy out on the ice and Shayna and the girls she teaches give Lizzy a cold shoulder and laugh at her when Lizzy falls. When Lizzy comes off the ice in tears, it reminds kate of when she fell down in her performance while attempting to do a difficult movement during the very first competition for the Albert Trophy. Kate's fall allows her bitter rival, Shayna (Josée Chouinard), to win the competition (and all succeeding competitions except one. Bret (Kurt Browning) won one year because Shayna had a broken ankle and pneumonia. However, she still placed second). This discourages Kate and causes her to vow never to skate again.
Kate summons up the courage to finally attempt skating again—at night while no one is watching. As she puts on her skates, Snowden comes to life. When she steps onto the ice, her costume changes. Snowden skates with her and changes into a cartoon.
During the competition itself, Kate enters spontaneously as a late entry. As there are no rules to the competition, she is allowed to perform. She wins, and is promptly given the trophy from Shayna, who has become less bitter towards her. Scootch (Scott Hamilton), the narrator, zamboni man, and old friend of Albert's, carries Lizzy to Kate.
At the end, Lizzie goes out on the ice in an attempt to skate, encouraged by her mother's performance earlier on. She skates with Snowden for a while before he transforms into Alfred (Kurt Browning), who starts teaching Lizzy how to skate, as he had done with Kate. Kate sees this and smiles.