She’s just a girl, but when her mom is in danger, she hides her identity and steps into a world where only boys are allowed. What starts as a lie turns into a journey of courage no one saw coming.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

Enola Holmes, sister of Mycroft the Sherlock Holmes, breaks the fourth wall in this movie. Riding her bike, unlike a lady of her time, she mentions how her name spelled backwards is Alone.

Right from her cradle, her mother Eudoria, was always with her, encouraging her to do well on her own. Her dad died when she was a toddler, and shortly after, both her brothers left home. That was roughly fifteen years ago.

Eudoria made sure Enola got the knowledge she needed from books, taught her science personally, and even taught her archery, swordsmanship, and martial arts. All she’d need to do well on her own. They did everything together, well, almost everything.

One evening, Enola happened upon her mom having a secret meeting with some other esteemed ladies and overheard her repeating the name Ellie Houseman. Within seconds, Eudoria shut the door on her.

Fast forward to July and it’s the morning of Enola’s 16th birthday. She wakes up hoping to spend it with her mom, but can’t find her anywhere. Time passes and Eudoria doesn’t return, but her maidservant, Mrs Lane, has a gift for Enola per her Mistress’s request. It’s a box of carefully curated objects, that much is obvious to young Enola.

Her brothers are on their way to Ferndell to meet with her, so Enola rides her bike like her life depends on it. Sadly, she falls off of it, making quite the mess of herself. By the time she arrives at the station, Sherlock and Mycroft practically walk past her, seeing as they have no idea what she now looks like.

She has to draw their attention before they realize who she is, and Mycroft is far from impressed by her demeanor. Worse off, she didn’t come with a carriage. After fuming for a moment, Sherlock gets them one.

They get home soon enough, and it’s far from what the brothers remember.

Practically, it’s too much of a mess for all the money Eudoria has been extorting from Mycroft. One looks around and Sherlock deduces that she left on her own accord. He’s only distracted when his brother starts to list out things Eudoria billed him for but didn’t get.

He turns to Enola, hoping to God that their mum paid for her education, but gets disappointed to hear that the girl was homeschooled. He hides it well though.

Later on, he and Mycroft talk over a game of pool, oblivious to their little sister eavesdropping outside. They get into a little argument, but Mycroft is more concerned about getting Enola into a boarding school. As for finding their mother, he leaves that to Sherlock.

Miss Harrison, a friend of Mycroft, owns a finishing school of the same name. She rides into the Holmes residence on her automobile, shaking hands with Mycroft seconds after she arrives.

She’s led to Enola and wastes no time taking the girl’s measurements to get her dressed properly. Of course, Enola sees these clothes as a sort of prison and she’s so defiant about the school that Miss Harrison slaps her across the face.

Desperate, she runs into the study to beg her brothers to have a change of heart. She even promises to behave, and goes on her knees to ask Sherlock to adopt her rather than Mycroft. Sadly, her pleas fall on deaf ears, pushing her to hurl curses at her brothers. Just then, Miss Harrison joins them and Mycroft promises to personally deliver Enola to school the next day.

Later on, the girl finds a comfy tree to sketch her frustrations. Sherlock joins her, sitting at the base of the tree to smoke his pipe. Suddenly, her sketch floats into his range and he’s amused that she’s been sketching a caricature of Mycroft. Feeling nostalgic, he breaks into a story about Dash, a pinecone Enola wrapped in wool and dragged around when she was a toddler.

Ashamed, she begs him to forget, and climbs down to drill him about never visiting or writing to her. Sherlock felt as though she wouldn’t care for his letters, but it becomes clear that his sister adores him, seeing as she has clippings from all of his cases. They segue into talking about their mother and Sherlock explains that Eudoria has her own way of doing things.

These words stick with Enola late into the night and she pulls out the box her mom left for her. Frustrated, she thrashes its contents, only to notice a small piece of paper. The word “alone” is all it takes to pique her interest, and she spells out the rest of the sentence using scrabble tiles. She then spells it backwards and it forms an anagram instructing her to look in Eudoria’s Chrysanthemums.

Quietly, Enola visits her mum’s study, taking out the chrysanthemums and finding nothing. She then realizes that her mum was referring to the painting, not the flowers themselves. She finds an envelope tucked behind the chrysanthemum painting and promptly tears it open.

Inside, she finds a bunch of cash and a note telling her that her future is up to her. She takes this as a sign to find her mother, and instantly raids Sherlock’s old chest, stealing the clothes he used to wear when he was younger.

Now dressed like a boy, Enola dumps her bike as a distraction and heads to a train station a few ways from home. She blends in quite nicely, but there’s trouble at the station. The Tewkesburys, a royal family in Basilwether, haven’t seen their heir. He’s supposed to board the same train Enola’s on, so his mum is panicked about his absence.

Sadly, the porter doesn’t empathize with her and gets the train moving. Just then, Enola catches a glimpse of an ominous man in a hat entering the train.

Back in Ferndell, Mycroft discovers a plushie where his little sister should be and can’t help but scream for Sherlock.

Meanwhile, Enola finds a car on the train with no other passengers and has barely sat down when she hears a sneeze from the luggage compartment. A knife tears its way out of the only luggage there and a hand emanates from within it, opening it up to reveal a boy about Enola’s age.

He ends up falling from the compartment but Enola would rather he leaves her car immediately. He refuses. Instead, he introduces himself as Viscount Tewkesbury, Marquess of Basilwether. Apparently, he’s in hiding, but as established, Enola doesn’t care.

She warns him about the ominous man searching for him and kicks him out of the car again. 37 seconds later and Tewkesbury returns, scared and lamenting that his pursuer is close by. Enola just rolls her eyes, packs her coat, and exits the car.

She crosses paths with the assassin, only to hear as he finds Tewkesbury. In spite of her mom’s advice not to get entangled with the troubles of boys, she returns to check on the situation. Sadly, the assassin is now dangling Tewkesbury off the side of the train. In a frenzy, she whips his head with a cane, and pulls Tewkesbury back in time to save his life.

Together, they make their way outside the train, balancing on the edge until the assassin finds them. Grabbing Tewkesbury by his hand, Enola jumps off the moving train, leaving their pursuer helpless.

Back home, Sherlock takes a second look at his mom’s study, only for Mrs Lane to walk in. She pleads with him to use his gifts to find Enola, afraid that the girl, although intelligent, has no experience in the world. In turn, the genius shoots her a solemn look.

Meanwhile, the duo walks their butts off until dusk and Enola points out that they need to camp for the night. In turn, Tewkesbury takes initiative when it comes to dinner, using his knowledge about plants to prepare a small feast. As they nibble on some mushrooms, she suggests that the Marquess gets rid of his hair as a form of disguise.

She sharpens a small piece of metal and gets to cutting as they exchange stories about their lives. By dawn, the odd duo hitches a ride on a farmer’s carriage heading to London. They converse the entire way, but when they arrive in town, Enola slips out of the carriage without hesitation.

Tewkesbury says his goodbyes at this moment, promising not to forget her name.

Enola was prepared for everything other than the busyness of the city. She’s a bit overwhelmed, but pushes this aside in search of a way to evade her brothers. She then comes upon a boutique and births the idea to dress in a way they’d never expect.

Back home, Mycroft and Sherlock meet at a country club, where the latter goes through the paper in search of clues to help find his sister. Mycroft brings up the Tewkesbury case instead, only dropping it to clarify that Sherlock should be focused on finding their mother.

While he reveals that he’s already given the police their sister’s description, Sherlock cracks a smile. He’d just noticed an article in the paper about two young boys jumping off a train.

On the other hand, Enola picks out a red dress that caught her eye, but the shop owner thinks she’s some scum that wandered in. She almost chases Enola away, but a show of cash quickly changes her mind. Enola dresses up and comes out looking stunning as ever. She then asks for a good inn to lodge.

Unfortunately, the owner of the boutique takes her to a rickety inn just because she’s friends with the owner. As dissatisfied as Enola is, she accepts the place. She spends that night concocting a message only her mom can decipher and sends a copy to the Pall Mall Gazette, magazine of modern womanhood, and the journal of dress reform.

At the gazette, she makes up her mind to track down the tea rooms on Elise street, seeing as her mom kept sending letters back and forth to someone at that address named Edith.

As planned, she locates the tea rooms, only to hear thuds coming from upstairs. She follows the noise until she happens upon a bunch of women training in martial arts. Their leader, Edith, steps up to Enola, and the moment the girl asks about Eudoria’s location, Edith realizes who she is. She mentions being Enola’s first teacher and they spar a little for the fun of it.

Soon, both ladies head to a quieter space to talk. Edith asks about her wellbeing, and Enola mentions how she rid herself of a useless boy, adding that she just wants to find her mom. Edith refuses to help, and something she says reminds Enola that she was in the secret meeting Eudoria threw her out of.

Nothing she says gets to Edith, so the youngster tries to fight her for information. Her first attempt ends with her on the ground, so she tries the corkscrew, quite the difficult jiu jitsu technique. It also fails.

Just before she leaves, Enola sees some explosives similar to the ones at the secret meeting. Three phrases from the same meeting come to mind and she begins to decipher their meanings. She decodes “The bankmen met” as The embankment, “entangle herb” as Bethnal green, and “Ellie houseman” as Limehouse lane.

Enola arrives at Limehouse lane in no time and slowly peruses the area until she notices a ribbon on one of the padlocks, the same ribbon Eudoria wore on her chest. Sneaking in through a window, Enola can see signs that her mother was there.

A science station nearby reminds her of the experiments they used to carry out together, some fliers for women’s rights to vote lay wrapped on the table, and a few steps forwards, Enola finds a crate filled with more explosives. This leaves her wondering if she should continue the search for her mom.

Quietly, the young lady exits the warehouse and makes her way back home, only to be grabbed suddenly. It’s the assassin from the train. He wastes no time burying Enola’s head in a barrel of water, only pulling her up to ask about the location of Tewkesbury. She doesn’t have satisfactory answers for him, so he buries her head a couple of more times and proceeds to drown her for seeing his face.

Enola promptly plays dead, and when the assassin least expects it, headbutts him in the nose. She flees the scene with this chance, preparing to fight as she squats behind some barrels. As expected, the assassin finds her, but she uses his weight to slam him into the ground.

She tries to run again, only to be yanked down by the assassin’s crowbar. Enola pulls from her training with her mom, evading blows from her opponent until he slams her into the wall. Struggling back to her feet, the fight continues. Sadly, Enola’s second attempt at the corkscrew not only fails but gets her slammed into the very warehouse her mom stored the explosives.

The assassin peels out a dagger from his ankle holster and slashes away until he stabs Enola in the stomach. Luckily, her corset takes the damage. She pretends to have given up, only to suddenly set off an explosion. Like dominos, one explosion leads to another while Enola slips out the front door.

She gets to the inn safely, hanging up her dress and money to dry. The entire time, she can’t help but think about poor Tewkesbury, a Viscount too weak to defend himself. Seeing as she’s capable of saving him, Enola chooses to do so, putting her mission to find her mom on hold.

Basilwether hall is Enola’s next destination. Tewkesbury is supposed to be living there with his uncle Whimbrel, his mom, and his grandma, the Dowager, alongside their multitude of servants. Disguised as May Beatrice Posy, a grieving widow, Enola infiltrates Basilwether hall.

She meets the Marchioness, Sir Whimbrel, and the Dowager, and introduces herself as a detective. Immediately, Whimbrel turns her away, only paying her mind when she claims to be Sherlock’s assistant.

Officer Lestrade, a cop on Mycroft’s payroll, pops out to claim that he’s Sherlock’s close friend. He goes on to accuse her of lying. Sadly, the theatrics of their argument annoys the Marchioness and gets both of them kicked out. The moment Lestrade rides off, Enola negotiates with a gardener to swap clothes with her. She then sources information that the young Marquess loved going to the woods.

Meanwhile, Sherlock pays Edith a visit and she’s everything but nice to him. They get talking about Enola, and after a while of insulting his indifference, Edith admits that his little sister actually needs him.

Under the guise of a shave, Mycroft and Lestrade meet at a barbershop. The officer fills him in on everything that happened with May Beatrice Posy, but Mycroft easily deduces that Lestrade is describing Enola. Soon, the officer figures out that she’s Mycroft’s sister, so the politician asks for his silence on the matter. He also promises to pay handsomely if Lestrade can find her.

Back at Basilwether hall, Enola already switched clothes with the gardener and is now wandering the woods. Using bits of conversation she had with Tewkesbury, Enola locates his tree house, climbing her way up to it.

She’s taken by how everything screams of him – from his scribblings to his tools. It soon becomes clear that he made his plans in this treehouse, plans to lead his pursuers astray. Pulling out a map, she realizes that he circled Limehouse lane. Apparently, it’s how the assassin thought to look for him there.

Looking around, she notices a book on present day London, and a page had been bookmarked using pressed flowers. On it is an illustration of the Covent green garden, and Enola is still perusing when she suddenly hears a voice from outside.

It’s the dowager, and she urges Enola to come down. They talk for a bit, taking a walk through the estate’s vast forest. The only thing the dowager requests of Enola is that she tells her grandson that she cares about him a lot. With this, the young lady promises to tell him, and then makes her way out.

She switches clothes once again, this time into something just as elegant as her red dress. She arrives at the ever busy Covent Green Garden, and within minutes, spots Tewkesbury by a flower stand. Enola admits to missing the Marquess, adding that he’s still in danger. He also admits to missing her, but she’s quick to remind him about the danger he’s in.

Together, they peel out of the garden and head to Enola’s inn. Upon arrival, Tewkesbury wastes no time revealing that Enola has been duped, seeing as her room isn’t up to standard at all. He then notices the old newspapers sprawled over her bed.

Tewkesbury wonders why she’s keeping all of them, so Enola explains the situation with her mother, mentioning how she’s waiting to see a cipher in the papers. The Marquess has this sad look in his eyes and Enola hates it. She tries to scold him, but he just quips that all they have is each other.

This statement leaves her flushed and she rushes to the kitchen, using tea as a deflection. Tewkesbury follows close behind, wanting to know why she thinks his life is in danger. In response, Enola reveals that his family sent an assassin after him, not a detective like he thought.

It turns out that they also had his dad killed. He’s still struggling to process this when Lestrade pops out from behind a door. Before the officer can grab Enola, she hits him with a kettle and Tewkesbury slams his head against the counter. Apparently, the boutique owner betrayed Enola for the reward money.

While Lestrade is down, the duo run upstairs and block the entrance with a cabinet just in time. Lestrade shows up seconds later, but can’t push the door open. During this time, Enola advises Tewkesbury to escape through the open window, but he’s nothing if not reluctant. She has to scream at him for him to leave, and shortly after, Lestrade forces his way into the room with the help of the boutique owner.

Just like that, she’s returned to the care of Mycroft. They ride to school together that night, and tears roll down Enola’s cheeks as she mourns her freedom. Mycroft even goes a step further and confiscates all the money Eudoria left her.

He delivers her into the hands of Miss Harrison, who wastes no time fetching her a uniform. The next day, the girls are taught how to laugh curtly, how to walk, and how to speak. Enola fails woefully at everything, even spilling her food all over a girl who mocks her during dinner.

Miss Harrison manages to suppress her anger, but tracks Enola down after the meal. For punishment, she’ll have to be escorted everywhere by prefects, and the door to her room will remain locked otherwise.

The next day, moments after tying her corset with all the reluctance in the world, Miss Harrison fetches Enola. One of her brothers had come visiting, and only when she steps into the study does she realize that it’s Sherlock. He dismisses Miss Harrison right away, wielding a newspaper beneath his arm. It’s the first thing Enola swipes from him, scrolling through it for clues her mom might’ve left.

The siblings talk about everything from Enola’s escapades to how they care for each other. They then revisit their mom’s case, scared that she’s about to embark on a dangerous mission. Sherlock admits that his little sister is becoming more of a detective everyday, and segues into the Tewkesbury situation.

He already knew of Enola’s connection to the Marquess, so he asks if she’s solved the case. She admits that she hasn’t, escorting her words with snide remarks. Quietly, Sherlock hands her a gift wrapped in a handkerchief, and she falls silent after realizing that it’s Dash, her favorite pinecone.

Enola becomes emotional when Sherlock reveals that he found it beneath their mother’s pillow. He then encourages her to be whatever she wants despite what society tries to force on her. Eudoria always found her extraordinary, and her big brother makes sure she knows that he does too.

She sneaks the paper and Dash back into her room and takes a second look. Just when she notices a correlation in the paper, she gets a delivery from Mycroft – a basket with something heavy in it.

It’s hurled into her room, only for her to hear a sneeze moments later. Quickly, Enola kicks it, hears someone, and opens it up. Like a pop up book, Tewkesbury stands to his full height. She rushes into his embrace, happier than ever to see him. In turn, the Marquess suggests that she hides in the basket so they can leave the same way he came.

Enola finds this brilliant, but the moment she enters the basket, she realizes that Miss Harrison will see through the plan easily. They take a moment to brainstorm and the best thing they come up with is having Tewkesbury drag her downstairs.

On his way, he runs into Miss Harrison, and has to lie that the package is for the headmistress. This gets him into more trouble because Miss Harrison now wants to look inside.

The Marquess lies some more, claiming that Mycroft gave specific instructions for it to be opened in private. Out of respect, she calls two kids to take the package to her office, and confronts Tewkesbury for standing around.

As soon as he heads downstairs, Miss Harrison returns to her office, eager to see the contents of the package. She opens it up and all she finds is a caricature drawing of Mycroft pecking her hand. Just then, Enola and the Marquess make their way to Miss Harrison’s automobile and start it up. The poor lady can only seethe from the window as she watches both kids driving into the sunset.

With Enola in the driver’s seat, it’s full steam ahead – that’s until they arrive at a literal crossroads. On the left is London, and on the right, Basilwether. Remembering her mother’s words, Enola chooses to return to Basilwether to settle some scores. As they drive, she helps Tewkesbury realize that his uncle Whimbrel stands to gain the most from his death.

Even after this realization, the Marquess doesn’t think it’s a good idea to go after someone so powerful. In turn, Enola yells at him and still does what she wants. They arrive at Basilwether hall by nightfall, so the duo lurks in the bushes to do some recon.

Tewkesbury, still curious, wonders why Enola is hell-bent on settling the score. The way she sees it, everything her mother taught her made her perfect for this situation, and she states this so passionately. They head inside shortly after, but it’s much more quiet than the Marquess remembers.

He calls out for his mother and that becomes his first mistake. The moment they step into the living room, Enola realizes that they’ve entered a trap.

In no time, the assassin fires his shotgun in their direction, shattering the poor vase in front of them. Frantic, the duo tries to run outside, but the front doors have been locked. Their pursuer catches up within seconds and continues to shoot sporadically, summoning screams from Enola.

They try to hide beside a statue, but his bullets seem to always know where they are. Now crouching, Enola watches as the assassin reloads his gun and throws a stone in the opposite direction. It draws his attention long enough for her to switch locations, leaving Tewkesbury to serve as bait.

It works.

The assassin draws closer to him, firing another shot at the knightly armor on the right hand of the Marquess. After Tewkesbury squirms in fear, his pursuer draws even closer, giving Enola a chance to jump him. She intervenes just in time to divert his bullets, but it gets her slammed into the walls.

She’s thrown to the ground, kicked, and even knocked out by the butt of the enemy’s shotgun. He’s about to finish her off when Tewkesbury rams into him. Angry, the assassin fights him off, punching him multiple times in his face. One quick look and Enola is still passed out, so he pulls out a string and begins to strangle the life out of Tewkesbury.

Slowly, Enola regains consciousness, only for her to burst into tears as she watches her friend getting strangled. She then hears her mom’s voice encouraging her and a quaint smile creep onto her lips.

In a split second, she grabs the assassin by his leg and performs a corkscrew so perfect that his head bashes into the sharp edge of an artifact nearby. As the assassin’s body slumps, Enola quickly checks on the Marquess, only leaving him to ask the enemy who he works for.

Proudly, the assassin declares that he works for England – the last thing he says before life seeps from his eyes.

Just then, the sound of her cane warns of her coming, Tewkesbury’s grandmother, that is. It turns out that she’s been behind it all and is so unrepentant that she points the assassin’s shotgun at her own grandson. Unfortunately, the Marquess takes the bullet straight to his chest, falling to the ground like a bag of flour.

To make things worse, the dowager tries to shoot Enola too, but she lacks the bullets to finish her off. Crying, Enola just retrieves the shotgun from her and rushes back to Tewkesbury’s side. She intertwines her hand with his, crying and grieving, but all of this is replaced with shock when the Marquess squeezes her hand.

He groans as he comes awake, and opens his coat to reveal a metal plate he’d hidden underneath it. Enola is too relieved to say a word. She just spends the next few seconds crying and hugging him.

Together, they face the dowager who seems more guilt ridden than a priest caught in a lie.

The next day, Sherlock storms Scotland yard in search of Lestrade, barely exchanging pleasantries before pointing out that the dowager should be arrested. Lestrade plays along, making Sherlock explain how he came to that conclusion. Shortly after, he mocks Sherlock for figuring it out long after his little sister did.

This is both surprising and amusing to the genius and he can’t help but laugh on his way out.

It’s election day. Enola tracks Tewkesbury down and catches him talking to his mom right outside the hall. The moment he sees her, he strolls up to the gate and they both smile at each other. She mocks his dressing, he laughs. He asks her to stay with him, but she reluctantly declines.

Deafening silence follows her refusal until Enola grabs Tewkesbury by his hand. He wonders when he’ll see her again and she just mocks him some more. Quaintly, he pecks her hand, and it takes everything in Enola to let go.

She buys a copy of the day’s paper on her way out, and comes across a cipher she’s certain was left by her mom. Right there on the street, she borrows a pencil and begins deciphering it. It’s a message to meet at the royal academy by five that evening, but Enola is suspicious.

This is because her mom wouldn’t have signed her name or even picked a male dominated establishment for a meeting place. With this, she concludes that it must be Sherlock’s doing.

For hope’s sake, she decides to still check it out. She pays a newspaper boy to swap clothes with her and then heads out.

At the royal academy, Mycroft and Sherlock stand in wait, with the former mocking his younger brother for being outsmarted by Enola. Sherlock doesn’t counter the point but makes it clear that he’d like to be in charge of Enola should they find her. Almost too happily, Mycroft obliges.

Shortly after, they both leave to get a drink, only for Sherlock to notice that Enola left Dash, her pinecone, cradled on the central monument. He can only smile at her intelligence and has no idea when he crosses her at the academy’s entrance. Dressed like a paperboy, Enola retrieves Dash and sneaks out to change.

Now in a dress, she returns to her new apartment, funded by Lady Tewkesbury, only to be told that she has a visitor. Upon opening her door, she comes face to face with her mother who keeps avoiding the elephant in the room.

It’s awkward for the first few minutes but Eudoria eventually apologizes for leaving. She explains that she left for Enola’s sake, not because she doesn’t love her, and that she hated what the world was turning into. She had to fight for it, and it wasn’t safe to do it with her kid.

Eudoria is so proud of the woman her daughter is becoming, and her words melt Enola’s heart. The girl finds herself running into her mother’s arms and they just bask in each other’s presence, no words necessary. They promise to keep in touch through the usual ciphers, and then return to basking.

Later on, Enola realizes that being alone doesn’t mean she has to be lonely. Her mother wanted her to find her freedom, and Enola believes she has. She now sees herself as a detective, a decipherer, and a finder of lost souls. Although she’s terrible at riding bikes, she gets on hers and rides into the busy streets of London, ready to reclaim her future.

Enola was raised unconventionally. Her knowledge broadened and her instincts sharpened by her mother. All of this helped her survive when the only parent she knew was nowhere to be found. She conquered problem after problem, and even saved some lives along the way. Let Enola’s courage inspire you to face your challenges head on.

Enola Holmes 2020 .