Five Children and It

In the summer of 1917, the Butterworth children are evacuated from London to stay with their eccentric Uncle Albert by the coast. They travel away from the war-torn city and begin adjusting to life at his seaside house.

The children explore the greenhouse on the property and discover a locked door. Curiosity compels them to pry it open, revealing a hidden passage.

The hidden passage opens onto a beach that surrounds the house. A sandy, magical being emerges and identifies itself as It.

It offers to grant wishes, and the children test its power by wishing the chores would be done magically. Dozens of identical copies flood the house, merrily completing tasks but wrecking the place in their exuberance.

It explains a core rule: at sunset, all wishes fade away. The copies vanish as the sun sinks, leaving the real children to deal with the mess and consequences.

With their home still in need of repairs, the children turn to It for help and wish for gold. The gold seems to unlock doors to town life, but it cannot be used in ordinary transactions.

The fortune leads to a shopping trip and a test drive that ends in a crash, drawing the irate shopkeeper Mr. Peasemarsh into a confrontation. The gold vanishes before he can reveal it, and authorities take him away as a madman.

Horace becomes suspicious of the children's secrecy and traps It’s friend It in his basement to dissect its magic. The siblings must contend with the risk while trying to hide the truth.

Robert asks It for wings to reach their father in France, and the others burst from confinement using their new wings as they escape toward the coastline.

The siblings soar along the coast, but German zeppelins threaten their flight. As sunset approaches, the wings begin to fail, and It appears to guide them back to shore.

Back on the beach, their mother returns to find their father missing. The next morning, Robert confides in It and they prepare to bring him home.

Horace's fossilized dinosaur egg is given a chance to hatch when he makes a new wish, unleashing a threatening creature. It makes the dinosaur vanish, leaving Horace frightened.

The siblings wish for their father to return, and he appears briefly on the beach, only to vanish again at sunset. The sense of loss deepens.

The family begins to rebuild trust and agrees to share the secret of It among themselves. They understand they must work together rather than rely on magical shortcuts.

On the sand fairy's birthday, the children offer wishes for Its future. A car breakdown traps them at home, and during a game of hide-and-seek, their father reappears briefly.