In Victorian-era London, Ebenezer Scrooge George C. Scott is a hard-nosed commodities trader who treats Christmas as a non-event. He refuses his nephew Fred Holywell’s invitation to share a meal and, begrudgingly, grants his underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit David Warner the day off only because there will be no business to conduct. He further squeezes extra payment from three businessmen and turns away charity workers Poole Michael Gough and Hacking John Quarmby, arguing that the poor are better off dead. That night, the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley Frank Finlay appears, bearing heavy chains forged from greed and warning Scrooge to mend his ways or wander the earth for eternity. Marley foretells that three spirits will visit him in turn, offering a chance to change his fate.
At one o'clock, the first visitor arrives: the Ghost of Christmas Past Angela Pleasence. It whisks Scrooge away to a childhood of loneliness and learning. He recalls a solitary boarding-school life, the tension with his father Silas Scrooge Nigel Davenport, and the warmth of a loving sister Fan Joanne Whalley who has since died. The Spirit shows Scrooge his early apprenticeship with the kindly Mr. Fezziwig Timothy Bateson and the happier, if brief, romance with Belle, whom he once loved before money took precedence. Belle’s aching pity for Scrooge’s loneliness is met with a sharp recapture of his stubborn pride as he tries to extinguish the vision with his cap, reappearing in his room shaken.
At two o'clock, the Ghost of Christmas Present Edward Woodward arrives to reveal the here-and-now joys and sorrows of others. He brings Scrooge to the Cratchit home, where Bob Cratchit’s family cherishes a modest dinner despite Tim’s crippling illness. The spirit then carries Scrooge to the house of Fred Holywell Roger Rees for a warm, noisy celebration that underscores what Scrooge is missing by staying away. Nearby, two destitute children, Ignorance and Want, watch with admonitions for him to change his heart. The sight leaves Scrooge deeply unsettled and desperate for a different path when the spirit departs.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Michael Carter then finishes the trio’s visitation. It guides Scrooge through a stark, money-driven future: a funeral where none mourns the passing of a colleague, a desecrated home where possessions are plundered, and a bleak Cratchit household mourning Tim’s death. Scrooge’s fear peaks as he is shown his own neglected grave, the name on the tombstone a chilling mirror of his life’s choices. He pleads for tenderness rather than fear, and his pleas are heard only when the vision ends and he wakes in his own bed, terrified but alive.
When dawn finally breaks on Christmas Day, Scrooge awakes transformed. He secretly arranges a prize turkey for the Cratchits Ian Giles and makes a generous donation to Poole Michael Gough and Hacking John Quarmby. He accepts Fred Holywell’s invitation to dinner, and the next day, to Bob Cratchit’s astonishment, he doubles his salary and reconciles with his cheerful nephew. The changes ripple outward: Scrooge becomes a second father to Tim, who recovers, and the whole of London feels the warmth of Christmas spirit in his renewed generosity and kindness.
