Rejected by the Who's as a child and living in spiteful seculsion for most of his life, the Grinch has always hated the citizens of Whoville. That especially goes for Christmas with the Who's noise, phony sentiment and wasteful materialism. When little Cindy Lou Who's attempt to transcend the festivities' empty commercialism by inviting the Grinch ends with his public humiliation, the Grinch hatches upon on his supreme scheme to ruin the holidays.