On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge, a greedy and lonely moneylender in Victorian London, resents the merriment of Christmas; he refuses to give money to a panhandler outside his counting house, declines his nephew Fred's invitation to Christmas dinner, and dismisses two gentlemen fundraising aid for the poor. His overworked and underpaid employee, Bob Cratchit, requests to have half of Christmas Day off, and Scrooge reluctantly accepts on the condition that Cratchit is docked half a day's pay.
That night, he is visited by the shackled ghost of his late business partner, Jacob Marley (Jacob Marley's Ghost). Marley warns that three spirits will visit Scrooge during the night, and that he will be similarly burdened after death if he does not change his wicked ways.
At one o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Ghost of Christmas Past), who shows him visions of his time as an employee under Fezziwig (Mr. Toad). At Fezziwig's Christmas party, the young Scrooge was in love with Isabelle. Later, Isabelle asks if Scrooge has decided to marry her. Scrooge declines and forecloses the mortgage on her honeymoon cottage. Realizing that he loves money more than her, Isabelle leaves him forever. A distraught Scrooge begs the Ghost to return him home.
Scrooge next meets the gigantic, merry Ghost of Christmas Present (Ghost of Christmas Present), who takes Scrooge to Bob Cratchit's house. Scrooge sees that their Christmas dinner for their family of five consists of barely enough food to feed one person, and becomes especially concerned when he sees Cratchit's ill son, Tiny Tim. The Ghost hints that if things continue the way they are, Tim will soon die.
The Ghost leaves him with the Ghost of Christmas Future (Ghost of Christmas Future), who takes Scrooge into the future to see the Cratchit family mourning Tiny Tim at the cemetery. As Scrooge asks the spirit if the events can still be changed, they see two gravediggers remarking how no one came to mourn the man they are burying. After they leave, the Ghost reveals the tombstone bears Scrooge's name, and shoves Scrooge down into the grave while dubbing him "the richest man in the cemetery." Falling into his own coffin which opens to show the flames of Hell, Scrooge vows to change his ways before finding himself in his bedroom on Christmas Day.
Filled with glee, Scrooge begins spreading happiness and joy around London, donating a sizable amount to the gentlemen's charity and reconciling with Fred. Traveling to the Cratchit house, Scrooge resumes his curmudgeonly persona by saying he expects more of Cratchit, then surprises everyone with gifts of a prize turkey, toys, and giving Cratchit a substantial raise along with making him his business partner, as Tiny Tim declares.
> God bless us, everyone.
