David (12), Peter (10) and Alice Littleton (8) (Reece Yates, Jordan Nash and Keira Chansa) enjoy an idyllic childhood in late-19th Century England. They love nothing more than to play in their garden and the nearby woods, and are encouraged to indulge their vivid imaginations by their parents Jack (David Oyelowo) and Rose (Angelina Jolie). Alice and Peter are enamoured with their older brother, David, who divides his attentions between his sister’s stuffed-toy tea parties and playing out thrilling pirate adventures with his brother. Then, their world is shaken when Rose’s status-obsessed sister Eleanor (Anna Chancellor) has secured David a place at Bristlemoss, a prestigious boarding school, meaning he will soon be sent away. But, the prospect of life without David is made an even-worse reality when tragedy strikes and, during a game on a rickety river boat with Peter, David slips and drowns. Grief threatens to shatter the Littleton family. Rose recedes into herself, numbed by alcohol while obsessively working on a felt hat she’d promised David as a going-away present. Jack, a craftsman who builds model ships, falls back into his gambling addiction and throws himself into debt, reconnecting with his dark, underworld past. Alice initially refuses to accept that David is truly gone and, pushed away by her mother, grows closer to her aunt, who resolves to turn her into a proper lady. Peter, meanwhile, blames himself for David’s death and struggles to fill the hole left in the family by his brother’s passing. As the Littletons’ situation worsens, both Peter and Alice find strength in the power of their imaginations and set off on a real adventure to try and rescue the family from penury — an adventure which takes them deep into the mean streets of Victorian London, where they make some astonishing discoveries about their father’s background. Emboldened, Peter realises that perhaps growing up to be like his brother is not the answer, and he resolves escape to a destiny of eternal boyhood in the distant isle of Neverland. Meanwhile, Alice delves into a world of her own creation, namely Wonderland, where she realises she must ultimately return to reality, grow up, and make her own choice: between her mother and her aunt. Out of one tragic reality, then, two very different fantastical legends are born: Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland.