Ebenezer Scrooge is dead. And, though he willed his business to Bob Cratchit and his house to his nephew Fred, he gave all his fortune away before he departed. Therefore, according to Scrooge's nephew, the two families must be "industrious" if they are to keep from falling into poverty. Tim Cratchit takes this advice to heart. He fears nothing more than the want that plagued his family when he was a child. As he grows to manhood, he pursues financial success with all his might, and by age nineteen he has become the shrewdest clerk at Scrooge and Marley's. So shrewd, in fact, that this particular Christmas, he has decided to forgo the company of his family to chase a business venture. But it is seven years since Scrooge died, and when Tim visits his grave, the old man-living or not-is determined to prevent Tim from following in his footsteps...