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The main character, Trotty Veck, is a very poor man who works as a ticket porter on the streets of London. He adores his daughter Meg who is on the verge of marrying her love named Richard. Meg and Richard are going to get married on New Year's Day.

Trotty loves the church chimes and he and Meg feel the chimes have always been their constant friend.

On New Year's Eve, Trotty, Meg and Richard have an encounter with some arrogant terrible men who are a higher social class than Trotty & co. These men make Trotty, Meg and Richard feel like they do not have a right to exist because they are so poor and a burden on society.

Throughout the day, Trotty begins to wonder if the poor are naturally wicked and a plague on society and he feels perhaps, he himself is unknowingly wicked.

Midway through the book, Trotty encounters a man and his little orphaned niece. The man is very poor and has no home and is on the verge of going to jail for some petty crime. Trotty invites the man and child home and spends all his money (which is not much money at all) on a New Year's Eve dinner for them. He gives the man his bed and his little daughter sleeps with Meg.

During the night, Trotty has a dream that the Chimes call to him and they are actually goblins that are very disappointed in him for losing faith in humanity. They tell Trotty he is dead and he must learn about the true nature of humankind by watching his daughter's life unfold. Trotty is once again convinced that people are indeed innately good and circumstances drive them to desperation and the poor are not a plague on society and they do have a right to exist. He also learns that poor like their "betters" are constantly trying to improve their lives... just like Trotty did during his life. Yet, the poor seem to always be fighting a losing battle because of the structure of society.

In his dream, Trotty sees the fate of all the people in his life. Even his next door neighbor, Mrs. Chickenstalker whom he owes money too (she owns a shop). He sees that she is very compassionate and not greedy by any means.

Trotty thanks the chimes for these lessons and then wakes up a new man.

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About the Author:

Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 - 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.

Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

Dickens's literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society.

His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication.

Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London.

His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is one his best-known works of historical fiction.