Crotchety Victorian businessman Ebenezer Scrooge has no use for festivity, even at Christmas. After resentfully allowing timid clerk Bob Cratchit to have the holiday to spend with his loving wife and family, Scrooge is swept into a nightmare. The ghost of his late partner, Jacob Marley, appears, warning that Ebenezer will be visited by three more spirits who will show the coldhearted man the error of his parsimonious behavior.