A Christmas Carol

On Christmas Eve of 1836, Ebenezer Scrooge's best friend and business partner Jacob Marley dies.

Seven years later, he becomes a surly businessman living in Victorian London who refuses to partake in the merriment of Christmas. On Christmas Eve in 1843, he declines an invitation to his nephew Fred's Christmas dinner, harshly dismisses two gentlemen who are collecting donations for the poor, and only reluctantly allows his employee Bob Cratchit to have Christmas Day off. That night, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob, who is bound in chains. He informs Scrooge that three spirits will visit him over the course of three nights, and he must heed their warnings or suffer a similar fate to his.

At one o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, who shows him visions of his early life, such as his lonely days in boarding school, his relationship with his younger sister Fan, and his time as an apprentice under the benevolent Mr. Fezziwig. The young Scrooge met a young woman named Belle, with whom he fell in love, but his focus on accruing wealth drove them apart. Overwhelmed, Scrooge extinguishes the Ghost's flame and returns home.