Carol for Another Christmas

On Christmas Eve, Daniel Grudge sits alone in a dark mansion room, listening to a World War II-era song and staring at war medals. He shuts off the record, then hears it start again on its own, hinting at a haunting tie between his regrets and his present bitterness. The scene establishes a man haunted by loss and resistant to the outside world.

Downstairs, Fred confronts his uncle about canceling a Polish cultural exchange, arguing for international engagement and humanitarian aid. Grudge replies with a hardline isolationist view, insisting the U.S. should strengthen arms and avoid foreign commitments. Fred leaves reminding him they share a love for Marley, their common ground amid the disagreement.

After Fred departs, Grudge is confronted by a vision of Marley, his son killed in World War II on Christmas Eve 1944. The spectral encounter deepens Grudge's guilt and foreshadows the moral test ahead. The moment clarifies why his political stance feels personal and painful.

The Ghost of Christmas Past leads Grudge onto the foggy deck of a troopship, where coffins draped in flags stand at attention. A second vessel carries the WWII dead, showing the scale of history's losses. The Ghost hints that more dialogue, not more weapons, is the cure for war.

Grudge, as a Navy commander, visits a hospital in devastated Hiroshima with his WAVE driver and witnesses Japanese schoolchildren scarred by the atom bomb. The brutal memory unsettles his military pride and complicates his worldview. The scene underscores the human cost behind political posturing.

The Ghost of Christmas Present appears, feasting at a massive dinner on Grudge's dining table while an internment camp nearby shows displaced people in need. Grudge challenges the Ghost's callousness, but the Ghost reminds him that donations and aid are essential, even if it feels uncomfortable. The display exposes a moral failure within Grudge's philosophy.

Angered by the display, Grudge cannot bear the spectacle and a tablecloth is suddenly ripped away, sending leftovers onto the floor. He runs from the room into the dark, escaping the sight of hunger and desperation. The moment crystallizes his initial rejection of collective responsibility.

Grudge enters a destroyed town hall where a demagogue called Imperial Me exhorts self-interest while the crowd brutalizes his butler Charles. A young boy shoots Charles, and the crowd begins a deadly march toward eradicating dissent. The future scene warns of a world driven by fear and faction rather than cooperation.

Imperial Me's followers celebrate as they prepare to eliminate the other side, prompting Grudge to ask the Ghost if this is inevitable or avoidable. The Ghost refuses to answer, leaving Grudge with a chilling uncertainty about humanity's fate.

Grudge awakens back in his study on Christmas morning, his phone still in his hand, and Fred arrives to recount the night’s revelations. He begins to show a more open stance toward international diplomacy and the United Nations, though he does not yet fully commit.

Fred tells Grudge that he arrived after Grudge called him at 3 a.m., and that he came by on his way to church. The admission reveals the night’s events had already begun to shift Grudge’s perspective. The moment adds a concrete thread of accountability to his evolving worldview.

Rather than being served on a tray, Grudge asks for coffee with his longtime staff, Charles and Ruby, in the kitchen. The intimate, domestic scene signals a softened attitude and a willingness to preserve life and humanity beyond his own interests. The ending hints at a future where cooperation and care could replace cynicism.