Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey), a bitter and miserly, old moneylender at a counting house in 1843, London, holds everything that embodies the joys and spirit of Christmas in contempt, refusing to visit his cheerful nephew, Fred's Christmas dinner party with his family, and forcing his underpaid employee, Bob Cratchit, to beg to take the day off for his own family. That night, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who had died seven years prior on Christmas Eve, and is now forced to spend his afterlife carrying heavy chains that were forged from his own greedy ways. Marley warns Scrooge that he will suffer an even worse fate if he does not repent, and foretells that he will be haunted by three spirits that will help guide him.
The first spirit is the Ghost of Christmas Past who, to Scrooge's amazement, has the form of a candle, and holds an enormous candle snuffer for a hat. He shows Scrooge visions of his own past that take place on or around the Christmas season, reminding him of how he ended up the avaricious man he is now. He had spent much of his childhood neglected by his father over the holidays at boarding school, until he was finally brought home by his loving sister, Fan, who died prematurely after giving birth to his nephew, Fred. Scrooge later began a successful career in business and money lending and became engaged to a woman named Belle, though she later called off the engagement when he began to grow obsessed with accumulating his own wealth. Unable to bear having to witness these events again, Scrooge extinguishes the spirit with his hat, and accidentally rockets himself into space, only to wake up to the next spirit laughing and calling to him.
The second spirit is the Ghost of Christmas Present, who is a joyous spirit in the form of a man in green robes holding a magical torch and wearing an empty sword scabbard, in the symbolism of peace on earth and good will toward men. He shows Scrooge the happiness of his fellow men on Christmas Day. Among them are his nephew, Fred, who playfully makes jokes with his family (at Scrooge's expense), and Bob Cratchit and his family, who are just barely able to make do with what little pay Scrooge gives Cratchit. Scrooge is touched by the Cratchits' sickly young son, Tiny Tim, and his commitment to the spirit of Christmas, and is dismayed to learn from the spirit that he may not have much longer to live. Before dying, the spirit warns Scrooge about the evils of Ignorance and Want, which manifest themselves before Scrooge as two snarling, angry, dirty children, who grow into violent, insane individuals; Ignorance, the boy, turns into a vicious thug, brandishing a butcher's knife, and then is slammed behind bars; Want, the girl, turns into a cackling hag, who begins to shriek as a straight jacket appears on her. She and Ignorance disappear as the Ghost of Christmas Present dissolves to dust in the wind, leaving Scrooge in the presence of the third and final spirit: the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
Forming from Scrooge's shadow, the spirit shows him the final consequences of his greed, and even toys with him a few times (chasing him through the streets on a shadowy carriage driven by horses, occasionally cracking his whip near Scrooge as he runs, in which causes him to shrink to incredible tiny size). Scrooge sees in this future that he has died, though there is more comfort than grief in the wake of his death, the men attending his funeral only going for a free lunch. At first, Scrooge is unaware that it is himself that is dead (he only thinks the spirit is showing what will happen to him by showing the result of another man's death), and is taken to his own bedroom with himself lying dead under the covers. The Ghost tries to make him peel back the covers to see himself, but Scrooge, understanding what the Spirit is trying to say, says "I would if I could. But I haven't the power to." and the ghost mercifully takes Scrooge away to see a new image of the future. Before, it is seen that Scrooge is robbed by his former maid, and even stripped of the clothes he was buried in. Tiny Tim is also shown to have died, leaving Bob Cratchit and his family to mourn him on Christmas. As Scrooge sees this image, he realizes he could have saved Tiny Tim, and sadly asks the Ghost "Who was that man we saw lying dead?". The Ghost then takes Scrooge to a stormy graveyard and points to a tombstone. Seeing the name on the stone is his own, Scrooge is horrified and asks the Ghost desperately if this images he has seen are sure to happen or can be changed. To little response, the Ghost shows the tombstone says that Scrooge died on Christmas Day as Scrooge tries to run away before the ground he stands on gets swallowed away and he is forced to fall into an open coffin while seeing the skeletal vestige of the spirit.
Just before he lands in the coffin, Scrooge awakes from supposedly a dream, and looks about to see himself hung upside down by his leg, which is tangled in a bed curtain. Scrooge didn't know what to do at first. He then realizes that that he is laughing like the second spirit did. After running to his window, and talking to a young boy about what the date is, Scrooge tells the boy to buy an enormous turkey. When the bird arrives, Scrooge sends it to Bob Cratchit's house (without word that it was him who sent it). Later that day, Scrooge walks joyously down the street, bidding a Merry Christmas to everyone he meets. After seeing the do-gooder that was in his office the day before, and giving him an unknown (but apparently extravagant) amount of money to donate to the poor, he meets a group of loud carolers that he once scared, who got nearly silent at his presence. He then joins into the caroling in a loud voice and gives a coin to them. Then, he comes to his joyous nephew's party and comes to dine, and the next day, he offers to help Bob's struggling family and give him more coal to warm himself. Bob leaves confused, as Scrooge shouts an eager "Tally Ho, Bob!" and the story concludes, saying that Scrooge became a better man.
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