A Christmas carol: A miser learns the true meaning of Christmas when three ghostly visitors review his past and foretell his future. The chimes: Toby "Trotty" Veck, a poor working man, loses his faith in human nature and comes to believe that he and his fellow poor are naturally vicious. Then he is afforded a nightmare vision of his loved ones' future after his death. The cricket on the hearth: The cricket who sits and chirps from the hearth of John and Dot Peerybingle acts as a guarding angel to the family. The battle of life: Marion Jeddler is loved by two men, but a crisis tests her devotion to her older sister Grace. The haunted man: Professor Redlaw, a teacher of chemistry, often broods over wrongs done him and grief from his past. A specter appears and offers him the ability to cancel all memory of sorrow.