One day in November, Charles Dickens is writing the next Martin Chuzzlewit story in his study. He is so engrossed in his writing that he is completely unaware of the external world, including his wife Catherine, who is in labor with their sixth child at that moment. He is also unaware of the knocks on his door.

As Dickens finishes the next Chuzzlewit story, his servant Topping enters the study with food and tells Dickens that his publishers, Chapman and Hall, are downstairs. They tell Dickens that Chuzzlewit is underperforming severely and that his American audience does not like it. Predicting that William Thackeray will usurp Dickens’s place as the top English novelist, they tell Dickens to write a Christmas book. They also encourage him to include a ghost because people love ghost stories at Christmastime. Dickens refuses, but they warn him that if he does not write the book, they will reduce his pay, for the failure of Chuzzlewit will damage both his career and theirs.

As Catherine’s labor continues, Dickens finds himself bored and unable to distract himself from his worries about his financial situation and his book’s commercial failure. He walks through London, an activity that he enjoys.