The events in A Christmas Carol take place over the course of a single night, probably circa 1842. During that night, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by four spirits, one of which is a human spirit while the other three are Christmas spirits. The human spirit is the spirit of Scrooge's former partner, Jacob Marley. Since Marley's death seven years earlier, Scrooge has absorbed all of Marley's property, and Marley's identity as well. The three Christmas spirits force Scrooge to relive five incidents from his past; to visit scenes from the present Christmas to Twelfth Night; and to witness a potential future where he sees his own death, as well as that of the child of his impoverished clerk, Bob Cratchit.
This is all done in a single night and succeeds in transforming Scrooge from a hard-nosed, penny pinching businessman, into a generous philanthropist. This transformation is witnessed in the final scene of A Christmas Carol when Bob Cratchit arrives late for work the day after Christmas. In this situation, the old Scrooge would have threatened Cratchit with termination, or a reduction in wages. Instead, the new Scrooge increases Cratchit's pay and offers to help raise Cratchit's family, especially Tiny Tim.