A Gothic fairy tale combining live action and stop motion puppet animation to tell the story of two little girls who disobey their mother for a glimpse into a magical other world and end up paying dearly for their caprice. The screenplay, adapted from the classic fairy tale "The New Mother," by Lucy Lane Clifford, is set in England in 1882.
In the film, Hanna and Mary meet an old woman with an ornate wooden box, inside which exists a magical fairytale land. The girls beg to see inside the box, but are told they are not grown-up enough. But they can prove they are grown-up by doing what they want, not what their mother tells them.
As the girls are manipulated into greater and greater demonstrations of wickedness, their mother is forced to abandon them. The new mother who replaces her is a terror to behold…