Plot

In this remake of Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol", a cold-hearted superstar singer gets a reality check when she meets three Christmas spirits who would change her miserly ways for the better.

To superstar singer Ebony Scrooge, Christmas is only another day of the year - another day to misuse her entourage, demean her family and steal from the less fortunate, before a fateful Christmas Eve changes her tune forever. Enter the ghost of Marli Jacob, Ebony's former singing partner, who informs the impossible Diva that she will be visited by three spirits: the sharp-tongued Ghost of Christmas Past, the hard-drinking Ghost of Christmas Present and eventually, the Ghost of Christmas Future, who materializes in an episode of VH1's Behind the Music. Once Ebony realizes the errors of her miserly ways, she heads out setting the record straight, as only a true Diva can.

Ebony Scrooge (Vanessa Williams) is one of the world's most successful popular singers. However, with her cold-hearted soul and nasty attitude, she lacks a great deal of holiday cheer and makes her underpaid manager Bob Cratchett (Brian McNamara) and her band anything but happy. In addition, she also neglects her niece Olivia (Amanda Brugel), which makes her husband unhappy.

While in New York for a charity concert, Ebony (who was once part of the 1980s pop group "Desire") is visited by the spirit of one of her former singing partners, Marli Jacob (Rozonda Thomas), who died in a road accident in 1990. She informs Ebony that she was unhappy with her for willingly abandoning her during her struggle with drug addiction which ultimately lead her to the road accident which killed her. She also mentions that God knows Ebony took advantage of Marli's untimely death to conceive her solo career, and the fact that she is using the charity concert as an excuse to increase her own wealth. Because of this, she is still earthbound and dressed into chains. Marli warns Ebony that she may face a similar fate and informs her that she will be visited by three spirits: the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, who will hopefully turn Ebony's life around.

The Ghost of Christmas Past (Kathy Griffin) shows Ebony her tragic past with her abusive, alcoholic father, and how she partly became the cold person she is today because of this. The only person that made Ebony feel loved was her brother Ronnie, and even he tried to be positive for their family, which continued even after the two were removed from their father's custody by their grandmother's call to child services, separated, and placed into foster care. It was also revealed that even though Ebony had been adopted into a nice family and managed to keep in touch with Ronnie, she had refused to visit her father, who she has never forgiven for the abuse he put both her and Ronnie through. While Ronnie tried to give her father a second chance after he seemingly improved his ways by moving back home with him, he soon learned that Ebony had been right about their father not having changed after he began drinking again. Ronnie subsequently departed home for good and later married straight out of high school and had Olivia, before dying of a sudden brain aneurysm.

During her years as Desire's lead singer, Ebony had a relationship with Bob, who was a disc jockey at the time, and he was considering marrying her before she coldly broke up with him, favoring her career over love. Ebony had worked well with Desire before her coldness caused rifts, which combined with Marli's drug problems, eventually broke up the band. Before leaving her, the Ghost takes Ebony to see Terry Freeman (Stephanie Biddie), Desire's other singer and Ebony and Marli's once close friend, who is now a destitute Meals on Wheels client because Ebony abandoned her following Marli's untimely death after crushing her financially in a lawsuit regarding the "Desire" name and brand. The Ghost confronts Ebony over her cruel treatment of Terry over the years, saying she should never have abandoned her friend when she needed her. Ebony attempts to attack the Ghost, only to be brought back to her suite.

Ebony then finds a wild party in her suite, with a heavy metal rocker at the center of the chaos. He is the Ghost of Christmas Present (John Taylor), who shows her how she has overworked Bob and her crew. She comes to learn just how much her band really hates her and that they demean her from behind her back. Ebony shows sympathy for Bob's sick son Tim, slowly realizing just how strained his relationship with his family is. The Ghost also shows Ebony that her accountant Ernie Hoskins spends Christmas with his girlfriend; Ernie lets slip to her that he has been able to pay for his lifestyle by secretly stealing money from her accounts over the years. This angers Ebony because Ernie was supposed to be her trusted accountant, and also makes her realize why he is always insisted on her staying on a tight budget - the less she spends, the more he can steal from her. The Ghost then takes Ebony to see the homeless people her concert is supposed to benefit, but whom she has never interacted with. The Ghost shows her how they enjoy Christmas despite having nothing. Lastly, the Ghost takes her to the apartment of her estranged niece Olivia. Olivia informs her husband and friends that despite Ebony's cold attitude, she still loves her aunt. Ebony begins regretting how much she treated Olivia in the past, and finally appreciates that she is the only living blood relative she has. At this point, she begins to see everything in a new light and feels terrible about the manner she mistreated Olivia, Bob, and her band. Before leaving her, the Ghost warns Ebony of the two killers that could destroy her life: Ignorance and Greed. Ebony reluctantly allows Bob to rush home to be with his wife Kelly and sick son Tim.

The last spirit (the Ghost of Christmas Future) is the only one that gets through Ebony. The Ghost is depicted as a miniature television showing a tragic episode of VH1's Behind the Music, which depicts many artists such as Brian McKnight commenting on the life and death of Ebony Scrooge. Her former bandmates use the show to discuss their grievances about who she really is inside, ruining her public image in the process. The matter is made worse when one of her disgruntled former backup singers, Tina, theorizes that Ebony had planned to destroy Desire herself by letting Marli perish from her drug problems in a road accident and leaving Terry financially ruined, so the former can take advantage and make her own solo career more successful. While Bob defends Ebony from this by debunking Tina's theory, he also reveals how much he could not forgive her for making him work on Christmas. This lead to both him missing Tim's death and Kelly divorcing him, a revelation that breaks Ebony's heart. It is also revealed that she died flat broke because of both Ernie draining her finances and her own career floundering in her last years. Ebony also discovers that Olivia was the only person who attended her funeral, while everyone else benefited from her death. The television then begins to pull Ebony into its black void as she screams for help. She begs God to grant her a second chance to make up for her cruelty and allow her to open her heart to Christmas once more.

The next morning, Ebony awakens and opens her heart to Christmas once again. During an interview, she mentions that she will do all she can to help the homeless and is open to suggestions on how to alleviate the stress of poverty. Ebony also apologizes for her most recent album to be overpriced. She hires a chef (Wolfgang Puck) to make a lavish Christmas dinner for her crew, and encouraging them to invite their families to her concert by buying up every ticket to the show that she can, over Ernie's protests regarding her budget. Ebony next reconciles with her niece Olivia, who reveals her pregnancy, and invites Terry to perform with her. She then makes one final stop before by rushing to the airport and stopping Bob from boarding his plane, revealing that she has flown both his wife and Tim to join him in New York instead. After offering Bob an extended vacation to be with his family, Ebony reveals that she has pulled some strings to get Tim into the best pediatric hospital in New York, and will personally fund his care to help him recover.

That night, the concert is a massive success. During the show, Ebony declares all proceeds and donations (which equate to over $1 million) will go to charity. She informs Ernie that he's fired and has him arrested for his embezzlement by the police. When he asks his girlfriend for help, she flashes her badge and reveals herself to be an undercover FBI agent. Ernie protests his innocence as he is taken away to be booked, and Ebony apologizes for the inconvenience her former manager brought them. Now wearing angelic robes, Marli watches Ebony and Terry perform "Sleigh Ride", an old song from their repertoire, and Ebony sees Marli blow her and Terry a kiss before departing for heaven. One year later, Ebony, Terry, Bob, Kelly, and a healthy Tim are seen with Olivia's family and her usual guests at her perennial Christmas party. Ebony and Terry reconcile their friendship while planning to reform the Desire group again and she playfully orders her great-niece not to make a mess on her.