Casey Stuart, Lindsay Lohan, is a tomboyish seventh-grader who quarterbacks her school's football team. Since her mother died two years ago, she has been pulling away from her old friends and clashing with a boy on her team. Casey stumbles upon a mysterious book, The Book of Awakenings, in Past Pages Bookstore. The tome explains a perilous ritual: a resurrection can be permanent only if the rite is completed and undone before sunset on the fourth day after it begins. Yet the book is expensive, and Casey leaves all the money she has on a glass shelf to secure it.
Driven by the ache to bring her mother back, Casey follows the book’s instructions and collects keepsakes from her mother’s life—locks of hair tucked in her hairbrush among them. But the plan is foiled in a surprising way. Drew McDonald, Anne Marie DeLuise, a woman who works with and is romantically involved with Casey’s widowed father Ben, brings Casey Eve, a plastic fashion doll crafted by Marathon Toys. Eve comes with an array of accessories—from outfits made for law enforcement and medicine to outer space adventures—and she resides in Sunnyvale, “in the middle of America.”
As Casey readies to perform the incantation, Drew stops by to give Eve as a birthday gift and uses the hair from Casey’s brush. With strands still clinging to Eve, the magic is misdirected, and Casey wakes the next morning to find Eve, Tyra Banks, in bed beside her in full-size human form. Casey is stunned and a bit unsettled, but Eve is thrilled about becoming a real person.
In the days that follow, Eve embraces life with wide-eyed curiosity. She buys clothes at the local mall, takes on a police-training bite after a truck nearly hits Casey, tastes and smells for the first time, and attempts secretarial work with mixed results. She even performs a number of steps at a corporate event, singing her theme song during a dance with Jere Burns as Ben. She also nearly sets the family kitchen on fire, then unexpectedly helps Casey cope with the loss of her mother. Throughout this period, Casey discovers that a second volume of the magic book exists, which could reverse Eve’s spell.
Tensions mount between Casey and her father, who has been missing her football games while pursuing a promotion at his law firm. Drew’s interference adds another layer of strain, as Ben’s growing closeness to Eve feels like a betrayal to Casey’s mother. Eve, for her part, grows more thoughtful and perceptive, offering guidance not only to Casey but also to Ellen, Ben’s coworker who benefits from Eve’s influence.
As the days pass, the two girls form a genuine bond. Eve provides emotional insight and helps Casey regain self-confidence, while Casey teaches Eve how to navigate popularity and be a positive role model. When the second volume finally arrives, Casey decides she does not want to buy it, choosing instead to embrace the real connection she’s found with Eve. Yet Eve, feeling homesick and aware that Marathon is watching, makes a bold decision to reverse the spell herself.
Eve travels to a decorated room at Marathon headquarters in Sunnyvale, recites the incantation, and reunites with her doll form just as Casey and Ben arrive. She says a heartfelt farewell, and the spell is undone. In time, Eve returns to being a popular toy, and life goes on with Casey maintaining her friendships, Ben receiving a well-deserved promotion, and Drew taking him to lunch after the tension subsides.
The film closes with a joyful dance to Eve’s theme, “Be a Star,” as Eve appears to be a real presence once more, singing and dancing alongside the cast.
