A Christmas Carol

Seven years after the death of his business partner (Jacob Marley), Ebenezer Scrooge is "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!" who has no place in his life for kindness, compassion, charity or benevolence. He hates Christmas, calling it "humbug", refuses his nephew Fred's dinner invitation, and rudely turns away two gentlemen who seek a donation from him to provide a Christmas dinner for the Poor. His only "Christmas gift" is allowing his overworked, underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit Christmas Day off with pay--which he does only to keep with social custom, Scrooge considering it "a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December!"

During the night of Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by Marley's ghost.
Marley warns Scrooge to change his ways lest he undergo the same miserable afterlife as himself. Three more ghostly visitors guide him through various scenes to help him achieve his transformation.