The story of Charles Dickens and the creation of his holiday classic novel "A Christmas carol."

In the gloom of a country graveyard, a young boy encounters an escaped convict, a chance meeting that years later leads the boy to tragedy, mystery and wealth.

An old bitter miser who rationalizes his uncaring nature learns real compassion when three spirits visit him on Christmas Eve. Misanthropic miser Ebenezer Scrooge is haunted by his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley's ghost is followed by three more spirits from Christmases Past, Present and Future.

Pip is a poor young man from the working class who finds new meaning in his life when he falls for the beautiful and well-off Estella. However, due to Pip's station in life Estella cruelly views him as nothing but a mere distraction. But when Pip comes into a fortune inherited from a mysterious benefactor, he is able to improve his social status-and sets about wooing her in earnest.