The main character in the book is Ebenezer Scrooge. He’s the owner of a small business in Victorian London and a tight individual he is too. Scrooge particularly dislikes Christmas as it means he has to give his clerk Bob Cratchit a day of, which he compares to someone stealing from him once a year.
Most of the story is set on Christmas Eve. Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Jacob Marley. Before he died, Marley had been just as mean as Scrooge and took every opportunity to exploit the poor. As a result, Marley lives a doomed existence and is forced to roam the earth as a ghost for eternity. However, Marley has decided to help his old partner escape the same fate, and so warns Scrooge that he must change his ways before it’s too late. To help him, Scrooge will be visited by three spirits: the ghost of Christmas Past, the ghost of Christmas Present, and the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.