In a grim London workhouse run by Widow Corney, Maria Charles, a dying mother brings a baby into the world and passes on a small locket containing her own mother’s portrait before she passes away. The locket lands in Corney’s hands, and the boy is christened Oliver Twist by the workhouse staff, a name chosen from a rotating alphabet of options. Seven years old becomes six years old, and Oliver, still living within the harsh walls of the institution, asks to see the cherished keepsake. Corney makes a cold promise: he can have the locket when he turns twelve. The years pass in a cycle of toil, hunger, and neglect, dragging the boy deeper into a life he does not want but cannot escape.
On the eve of Oliver’s twelfth birthday, the tension boils over at dinner when the boys draw straws to decide who must ask Corney for more gruel. Oliver draws the shortest straw and is brutally expelled from the workhouse for daring to plead for food, without his locket in hand. That night, he sneaks back to reclaim the talisman and sets off for London, where a different kind of danger awaits. There, a young, confident thief named Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, intercepts the frightened newcomer and explains the world he’s stepping into: a band of young pickpockets led by the wily old master, Fagin, Richard Dreyfuss. Oliver is brought into their circle, and the Dodger introduces him to the routine of stealing, while Fagin quickly seizes Oliver’s locket, the symbol of the life he’s just begun to understand he’s missing.
Oliver’s arrival at the gang’s lair marks a turning point. The Artful Dodger begins teaching him the craft, and Fagin keeps a close, watchful eye on the new boy, even threatening him over the locket when the temptation to betray the trust of the group arises. Three months pass, and Oliver’s first trial as a thief looms: a pickpocket assignment. The plan goes awry when Oliver is caught in the act of stealing a watch, but Dodger, quick on his feet, substitutes the watch for Oliver and makes a hasty escape, shielding the boy from immediate blame. Oliver, however, is mistaken for the culprit, and the situation escalates until Dodger hurries to the courtroom to support him. Rose, the niece of the victim, testifies that Oliver is not the thief, and Oliver finds himself invited to the Brownlows’ grand home in Grosvenor Square.
At the mansion, Oliver’s life shifts in a new direction, and he begins to glimpse a different world through the eyes of Rose Maylie, Olivia Caffrey, who shares in the warmth of the Brownlows’ hospitality. In the gallery, a portrait on the wall mirrors the locket’s circulating secret: it is the portrait of Mr. Brownlow’s late wife, and the Brownlow family reveals that they once had a daughter who carried that very same locket. Could Oliver truly be Mr. Brownlow’s grandson and Rose’s cousin? The discovery awakens a glimmer of belonging in the orphan, a possibility that he had never dared to dream.
Yet danger remains close behind. The Dodger, while still connected to the crew, is traced by the suspicious Bill Sikes, a ruthless thief and murderer who owes a great debt to Fagin. Sikes convinces Fagin to permit a kidnapping, bringing Oliver back into the perilous orbit of crime, this time with Dodger and Nancy, Sikes’s devoted partner who harbors private questions about the life they lead. Nancy, though uneasy, agrees to help, while Dodger himself resists placing Oliver in danger, refusing to trap him in the bag intended for their raid. Back at the hideout, Oliver reaffirms his loyalty and his affection for the Brownlows, insisting that he would never betray them—even in the face of backstabbing and fear.
The pursuit tightens when Sikes learns that Oliver knows where Fagin’s hidden treasure is kept, and the plan to abduct the boy escalates into a late-night trap. Sikes stages a dangerous assault at the Brownlows’ home, forcing Oliver to help steal from the family, but Oliver’s quick action and Rose’s steadfast presence begin to unravel the scheme. Nancy, venturing to the Brownlows herself to warn them and to return Oliver, becomes a casualty of Sikes’s rage when she is murdered at London Bridge after a tense sequence of miscommunication and double-crossing. Dodger, alerted to the danger, hurries to intervene, but the net closes around the fugitives and their captors.
The chase culminates at the gang’s hideout, where the police close in and Sikes locks the door behind him. Oliver, now a hostage, climbs with the locket and the stolen box toward the rooftop in a desperate bid for safety. The struggle ends in tragedy as Sikes’s rope catches and he dies, his body swinging above the crowd of witnesses and pursuing lawmen. Dodger is arrested for his broader pilfering, while Fagin negotiates a final, uneasy ending: he returns Oliver’s locket after confirming its truth, the locket itself proving the connection to Mr. Brownlow’s family.
With the mystery resolved and the bond to the Brownlows proven, Oliver—now recognized as Mr. Brownlow’s rightful grandson—finds a place of safety, love, and belonging at last. The tale closes on the image of a hopeful future as Oliver sleeps soundly in his new home, surrounded by the people who have chosen to care for him and the knowledge that he is finally part of a family.
