Ebenezer Scrooge is a tight-fisted, lonely miser in London who despises Christmas, viewing it as a nuisance and a waste of money. On Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, who is weighed down by a heavy chain forged of ledgers and cash-boxes. Marley warns Scrooge that he will face the same torment unless he changes his ways, announcing that three spirits will visit him.
The first visitor, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge back to his lonely childhood at school and his early days as an apprentice to the joyous Mr. Fezziwig. Scrooge also witnesses the painful dissolution of his engagement to a young woman who realized his growing obsession with wealth had displaced her in his heart, leaving him deeply remorseful.
The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, shows Scrooge the warmth and celebration happening across London despite hardships. They visit the modest home of his underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, where Scrooge is deeply moved by the family's love and the plight of Cratchit's ailing, crippled son, Tiny Tim. The spirit also reveals two wretched children named Ignorance and Want, warning Scrooge of the doom they portend.
The final spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, silently guides Scrooge through grim scenes of his own death. He overhears callous businessmen mocking his cheap funeral and witnesses local scavengers stealing his belongings straight from his deathbed. He also sees the profound relief of a family who owed him money, contrasted with the quiet grief of the Cratchit family mourning the loss of Tiny Tim.
Horrified to discover his own neglected grave and realizing the true cost of his misanthropic life, Scrooge desperately begs for a second chance. He awakens on Christmas Day transformed, bubbling with joy and determined to make amends. He anonymously sends a massive prize turkey to the Cratchit family, donates generously to charity, reconciles with his nephew Fred, and ultimately becomes a second father to Tiny Tim.
