Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is the quintessential festive tale, at once a ghost story, a moral fable and a celebration of the redemptive power of kindness. On a frosty Christmas Eve, cold-hearted Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who guide him through shadows of his past, glimpses of a joy-filled present he has long ignored and a chilling vision of what will come if he fails to change his ways. Through satire and sentiment, Dickens depicts the harsh realities of Victorian London and the possibilities of human redemption.