The story behind the writing of one of the most influential stories ever written. The desperation, the romance, the triumph, and the tragedy of Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
Finding himself poised to drag his family into financial ruin - despite his skyrocketing fame - Dickens is bereft, ashamed, exhausted. His marriage is beginning to buckle, and his own demons are creeping ever and ever closer - until a spark of an idea ignites, takes hold, and blazes into being.

1930s, Anytown, USA. Ida Mae is hanging by a thread. As the oldest of several siblings who's mother has died, she's been thrust into the role of replacement parent. As her often-absent, alcoholic father squanders what money he does earn on liquor, she's been thrust into the role of sole breadwinner for the family. There's a new baby in the house - who she's insisting is her sister - and she needs help. When a neighbor who passes the house on his way to work answers her plea, his small acts of kindness give her the life-line she's been grasping for. The problem? She is white and he is black. As Ida Mae and Jim traverse the nuance of human-to-human kindness and connection in a society where their interaction is shunned at best - and criminal at worst - her world-view is turned upside-down, until she is left facing an impossible choice.