A lonely girl walking along the beach stumbles upon a strange, glowing creature. At first, she thinks it’s hurt but then it speaks. It offers her one wish, anything she wants. But with great wishes come big consequences.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

Ros is sitting in a corner in the library when the librarian checks in on her. She rents some books later on, only for her to notice a red one on the counter. It’s “five children and it” by Edith Nesbit, a writer in the 90s.

Ros asks the librarian what it’s about and she explains that it’s about kids and wishes, encouraging her once more not to give up on her imagination. She then lets Ros rent the books for free just in time for her dad, David, to pick her up.

On the other side of town, Samantha, also known as Smash, is throwing rocks into an abandoned building when her mom, Alice, comes driving in like a maniac. She’s disappointed and angry that her daughter would mingle with delinquents and she yells about it up until she drags Smash back into her car.

Apparently, David and Alice have a vacation planned in some cottage by the ocean in Cornwall, so they have their kids prepare themselves without revealing any major details.

David gets his son, Robbie, to drop his Nintendo just long enough to get into the car, and Alice, who’s American, almost gets into an accident because she forgot they drive on the left in England. She gets home and Smash continues her tantrum in hopes that it’ll get her out of the trip.

Her little sister, Maudie, troops in at this moment, and light returns to Smash’s eyes as she lifts the little girl into the air like a miniature airplane.

Having promised his kids a surprise, Ros and Robbie whisper among themselves as they wonder what it’s going to be. Ros believes it’s their parents getting back together, but Robbie isn’t holding his breath.

As for Alice, her kids spend most of the trip complaining about joining their dad in the Seychelles and mocking her for being a terrible cook.

David and his kids are the first to arrive at the vacation location, a large cottage by the beach, and while he tends to Robbie’s car sickness, Ros takes a look inside. From the window, she notices another car pulling into the driveway and instantly thinks it’s her mother. Imagine her surprise when she gets downstairs to find Alice and two girls she’s unfamiliar with.

All four kids don’t understand what’s going on, so David and Alice get them to step inside first. There, they hold hands and announce that they’ve been dating secretly for a while. Robbie immediately throws up after hearing this and Smash blames her mom for ruining her life a second time.

While David tends to his son, his daughter brings up their mom. But he doesn’t get a chance to talk on the matter before Smash throws Ros’s things down the stairs. The girls can’t seem to get along, so much so that Smash declares her half of the room a sovereign nation and demarcates it with a curtain. She then sniffs through Ros’s books and mocks her for wanting to read during a vacation.

Downstairs, the parents barely have time to talk when they hear Smash and Ros fighting like they were paid to. Tired, David suggests that they all have a picnic.

The makeshift family trudge down to the incredibly wide backyard by the ocean where they come across Mr Tristan Trent III, their landlord. He’s quite weird, but civil enough to have a conversation with. The only thing that really catches his eye is Ros, so he takes a picture of her and bids the rest of the family goodbye.

They lounge by the ocean and a bored Smash begins to play music, ruining the tranquillity. Her mom grabs the phone from her and she sets her eyes on Robbie peacefully gaming away his time. Smash, being mischievous, grabs his game and makes a run for it, leaving Robbie to chase after her, and Ros to chase after him.

They turn the corner soon enough, only for Smash to fall down a tunnel. Unable to do without his game, Robbie follows her down. Maudie just goes because she wants to have fun with the others, forcing Ros to follow to keep an eye on things.

She follows the tunnel until it bursts out onto a beautiful beach, with waves crashing and more sand than builders would know what to do with. Anyway, Ros notices Maudie playing by herself and Smash climbing a boulder just to hide Robbie’s Nintendo. The poor boy climbs after her but falls off before he can get his game.

This is when it happens.

A strange creature in the sand pulls in Maudie’s doll, but she’s not worried immediately. The worry comes when the creature seems to be chasing her. She tries to get away from it, but it just steals her shoe. To make things worse, it begins to chase down all the other kids, leaving them no choice but to climb on rocks to avoid it.

Soon, it steals away Robbie’s backpack, only to spit it back up with its contents spilled. Unfortunately, his charger gets wrapped around the creature’s ankle, so Robbie chases after it and grabs onto the cord to pull out this mysterious being. Ironically, Smash helps him out, putting aside their rivalry.

Together, they pull out the being, hold it down with their weight, and even threaten to hit it. Something weird happens next – the being begins to speak. With its ears drooping and sand colored furry skin, the kids back up in shock.

It tries to get away, but thanks to the cord tied to its foot, Robbie pulls it back. It’s at this point that he admits he’s Psammead, a sand fairy, and that anything placed on the beach is an offering to him. Ros remembers him from her book – five children and it – and listens as he states the rules.

Apparently, he can only grant one single sentence wish a day, and it only lasts until sunset. He also advises against it because they never work out, but Robbie doesn’t even listen. He immediately wishes to be the best climber in the world.

Just like that, Psammead inflates and then farts as he deflates, a weird signal that the wish has been granted.

With this, Robbie goes after his Nintendo and Psammead dives back into the sand, returning Maudie’s doll as a gesture of good faith. The wish works extremely well and Robbie makes his way up the cliff like he’s walking. His big sister, on the other hand, is certain that there’s a catch.

Meanwhile, their parents are starting to get worried, well, mostly David, but before they can go search for the kids, Ros shows up to check her book. She discovers that wishes dissipate at sunset and one look at the horizon reveals that it’s almost then. She rushes back to beach for this reason, yelling for Robbie to get back down.

He doesn’t make it down in time and gets stuck holding on to the cliff. His big sister goes around, pulls off the rope blocking off the cliff, and lowers it for him to grab onto. After a few minutes of struggling, she successfully pulls him all the way up, but loses her book as the rope falls into the water.

The other kids come up to join them, only for their oblivious parents to see them hurdling around Robbie. Together, they all head back to their cottage like nothing happened.

Tristan is back at his mansion comparing the picture of Ros to a painting he has hanging on his wall, and discovers the uncanny resemblance.

Back in Ros and Smash’s room, the former watches a video of her parents at her 12th birthday while the latter tries to call her dad. None of them get their desired result, so, first thing the next morning, Smash sneaks off to the beach.

There, she leaves out a whisk as an offering for Psammead, and when he shows up, makes an extravagant wish.

Robbie is woken up by the sound of a phone ringing, only to find out that it’s Smash’s. She answers and the delinquent makes her promise to bring Maudie, adding that she’ll send someone to pick them up.

She heads downstairs soon, tells their parents about Smash leaving the house, and then escapes with Robbie and Maudie while they’re distracted. As they wait for her on top of an old cannon, a pink helicopter with Smash’s face on the side flies down to pick them up.

They fly across town, taking in the sights as they go and landing in front of a large theatre with Smash’s face everywhere. Apparently, she wished to be a superstar.

Her assistant comes through to hand all three kids their passes and they come face to face with Coco Rayne, a famous British singer. Coco then leads them to Smash’s dressing room where paparazzi can’t get enough of her. They take Maudie to make up and Smash takes pictures with Robbie and Ros as though they are fans of hers.

Meanwhile, Tristan is out with his camouflage and binoculars, searching for Ros while their parents are once again worried sick about their location. Tristan has no idea they’re closer than he thinks, and when he’s caught with his binoculars, he comes up with a flimsy lie about documenting nature. Anyway, he has this idea to have all of them over the next day and somehow convinces David that it’s a good idea.

Time passes and Robbie and Ros are tired of sitting alone in the waiting room. They can hear the crowd chanting Smash’s name as it’s almost time for her performance, so they track her down to ask some questions. Of course, Smash pays them no mind and gets on stage soon enough. The crowd goes wild as she asks if they want to party. She then dedicates the show to Maudie and begins to sing and dance.

She’s barely gotten her stride when everything disappears, leaving her to scream that she wants it back. Ros explains that the wish dissipates at sunset and things get serious when a guard comes into the theatre, wanting to know how they got in. The kids have no choice but to run and everyone except Smash panics at the thought of how to get home.

Luckily, she’s delinquent enough to have some tricks up her sleeve. All four of them follow her lead as they run into the nearest train heading in their direction. She then leads them into the train’s bathroom and locks it from the inside.

Meanwhile, their worried parents make their way to the Cornwall police station, but the officer at the desk thinks the kids are out exploring. He has this weird obsession with owls and neither David nor Alice appreciate it. After noticing, he informs them that they can find a signal to call their kids at the top of a nearby ladder, so the parents get up on it and shoot Ros a call.

She almost hands Smash the phone, but realizes that the delinquent will just blame her for everything. Instead, she lies that smash got stung by a bee and rushed to the hospital, adding that they can be picked up by the train station.

Back at the police station, Alice gets so worked up that she takes the ladder down with David still on it.

On the train, the kids talk about their absent parents; Ros about how her mom went back to college to find herself, and Smash; about how her dad left because he got fed up with Alice. The train reaches their stop soon enough, and they’re met at the bathroom entrance by a very angry attendant who hands them over to even angrier parents.

That night, over a drink, David and Alice argue over who’s kid started all of it. He blames Smash and her mom comes to her defense. Eventually, their fight is interrupted when all four kids show up holding a placard with sorry written across it in crayon.

Early the next morning, Ros sneaks out to get her turn at a wish, only for her to find Smash trying to be a superstar once again. She tackles her immediately and they continue to fight long after Psammead runs away.

At home, David tries to make peace with Alice, but she’d like him to say what he’s feeling more often; to be more unreasonable. As they hug it out and agree to give the kids another chance, Ros and Smash bring their fighting through the door.

Later on, they all head towards Tristan’s mansion and he welcomes them in happily. At the entrance, he asks them to take off their shoes and then stealthily places a tracker under Ros’s.

He leads them into the living room where he tells tales of his ancestors and how his great grandfather, the first Tristan Trent, spent his fortune searching for ultimate power. Shortly after, he offers Alice and David cocktails and then offers to give the kids a tour of the house.

Of course, one of them, Robbie, wanders away from the group and into Tristan’s gadget room. The landlord is quick enough to stop Robbie before he can rummage through more of his stuff. Soon, he shows them different rare stuffed animals and everything from hooves to teeth.

For a split second, he loses track of Ros but finds her wandering further down the room. She asks for the bathroom and gets told it’s upstairs. Tristan then continues the tour as she makes her way up. Curiosity gets the better of Ros as she steps into one of the rooms at the top of the stairs, and somehow, Tristan shows up within the minute to guide her out.

He begins to question her about her grandmother and whether or not she has ever come to Cornwall before. He even promises to give her a reward if she informs him about any oddities she may come across.

Downstairs, Alice and David play with ethnic masks and it becomes awkward when Tristan walks in with Ros. She finds out that the other kids have gone, so she chases after them immediately. David and Alice are close behind and Tristan activates the tracker on Ros’s shoe the moment they leave.

As they walk down, Alice talks to her about Smash, trying to explain the reason for her behavior. Mid conversation, Ros’s phone rings and it turns out to be her mother.

She trails off as they talk about Alice, but her mom doesn’t seem to be against David’s relationship with her.

Meanwhile, Robbie offers a Spinosaurus claw he stole from Tristan as a sacrifice to Psammead. It’s Maudie’s turn to make a wish and she wishes that they could all fly.

Poor Ros has no idea, so she finds herself floating off of the rock she’s sitting on and tries her best to stay grounded. Her dad joins her soon and she has to hug a tree to stop from flying off. This is only temporary.

David also hugs the tree, using the chance to reveal that he’d like Alice to move in. Shocked, Ros absentmindedly lets go and finds herself rising above the canopy. She makes her way to join the others and they all seem excited by their new found abilities.

Ros then tells her brother about the Alice situation and it turns out that it’s just as Robbie expected. Angry that he’s not angry, she flies away from the group.

Mid air, Smash gets a text from her papa and happily reads through it. Her mood becomes sour afterwards and she throws her phone away.

At the same time, Tristan keeps his eyes peeled on the screen and almost chokes on his tea when he notices that the tracker is crossing the ocean. Quickly, he swipes his binoculars, only to find Ros flying over the water.

As they walk through the woods, David and Alice find Smash’s phone and discover that she got a message from her dad. Apparently, there’s no room for her at his place and he offered to buy her sneakers instead. David encourages Alice at this point, but they’re both certain that smash didn’t like the message at all.

While the delinquent flies about angrily, Ros continues to float and sulk, running the tips of her fingers through the water until they pick up her book. Just then, Robbie comes flying in, complaining about Smash going haywire. Together, they chase after her into the woods, only for Robbie to get caught in a tree.

It’s Ros and Smash now, and the latter picks up a crate as she breaks her way through multiple glass windows. Taking the higher route, Ros notices a caravan upfront and realizes that Smash will crash into it if she doesn’t slow down. Quickly, she flies ahead of Smash and tackles her just before this can happen.

Smash throws a tantrum as a result, yelling at Ros to leave her alone. Only then does she realize that her life has been saved. Robbie and Maudie touch down just in time to hear her screaming about how no one, including her dad, wants her, and Maudie yells that they do. She rushes to hug her big sister and all four of them just bask in the moment.

By sunset, they drop in their cottage backyard as David is making a fire. Alice then comes out to invite them for dinner which turns out to be a disaster. It’s burned beyond saving, so no one except David tries to eat it. Things get worse when she brings out Smash’s phone and the delinquent throws another tantrum and leaves the dining room.

Robbie escapes the table next, and then Maudie. Ros also leaves, but not before telling David that her mum still likes him. She joins Smash by the fire and they talk about what would happen if their actual parents stayed with each other. This gives Ros an idea and she plans to use her wish to do something about their folks.

Come breakfast, David and Alice pack their bags and ask the kids to do the same. For the first time since the vacation started, they all come together to revolt against their parents, literally leaving them speechless in the dining room.

Together, they make their way to Psammead, oblivious to the fact that Tristan is tracking them.

Apparently, Ros wants to go back in time to meet the original kids from Mr Nesbit’s book. Psammead Warns them about the consequences of time travel but Ros is determined to go. She’s only worried about how they’ll get back, so Psammead hands them a pearl to blow on when she’s ready ti return. He then makes their wish come true and Ros disappears from Tristans radar.

Upon their arrival in the past, they come in contact with Cyril, Robert, Jane, Anthea, and their baby brother, Elam. Just like with everyone else, Smash doesn’t get off on the right foot with them, but Ros intervenes, shaking Cyril’s hand and asking if there’s a way to make a wish permanent.

She’s about to get an answer when Tristan Trent, their landlord’s great-grandfather, shows up with a gun, and all the kids except Ros escape. He grabs her and shoves her into an empty room, making her empty her pockets until he comes across her phone.

Concluding that she must be something of a sorceress, he threatens her with his gun once again. Scared, Ros spills the truth about the Psammead and how he grants wishes. She’s yet to reveal the fairy’s location when Smash breaks through the wall with her bare hands, creating a big enough distraction for Maudie blow him away.

The youngster then bends his gun with her telekinesis and Robbie shows up to explain everything. Apparently, Smash got Cyril to go see Psammead in this timeline and wished for all of them to have powers.

At this point, Tristan tries to make a run for it but Ros sets his butt on fire with her laser eyes.

While Cyril and the others wreak havoc on the townspeople, Ros informs the others that the Psammead is in danger. This is because Tristan will spend the rest of his life looking for him. She then blows on the pearl, returning them to the present in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, Tristan is already digging up the beach with an excavator.

He unearths a bunch of Psammead’s offerings and the fairy chases after them. After confirming the creature’s existence, Tristan becomes all the more determined to get him. He almost gets him with the excavator but the girls block his path, giving Robbie a chance to clog the excavator’s wheels with a log of wood. This doesn’t hold for long, so he has to give up his Nintendo to buy more time.

Confused and afraid, Smash and Ros pull the sand fairy in opposite directions, only choosing to go through the tunnel when Tristan continues his attack. The excavator eventually blocks the tunnel’s exit, leaving Tristan trapped on the beach. They go over the cliff just to laugh at him and then make their way home with Psammead.

Ros and Smash discuss what the perfect wish would be, and the latter thinks it needs to be a dating app that’d disappear at sunset, leaving its users in love forever.

At home, Alice makes a pie that is actually edible and David teases her about it. While they’re distracted, the kids wrap Psammead in a hoodie, shielding him with their bodies as they take small steps into the house. Alice and David peer up from the kitchen counter but all the kids out up fake smiles, as if nothing’s wrong. The moment the parents return to their business, they sneak Psammead into the bathtub.

The only problem is that there’s no sand in the bathtub.

Ros and Robbie head out to fetch some, talking on their way back about their mom. Ros still has hope, but her brother has accepted that their mom left them.

That night, Alice successfully makes a proper dinner and it’s laughs all around the table. That’s until David hears a sound upstairs. He threatens to check it out, so all the kids except Maudie head up, giving flimsy excuses as they go.

They get to the bathroom to find Psammead struggling to fit more stuff into the tub and it becomes clear that they have to find somewhere else to stuff him.

Later on, Ros and Smash brush up their airtight wish to get their actual parents back together, making sure it fits all of Psammead’s rules.

Just then, they hear their parents coming up the stairs and pretend to be asleep. Quietky, Alice drops a copy of ‘Anne of Green gables’, her favorite book when she was a girl, onto Ros’s nightstand and tells David to pretend it’s from him.

They enjoy the sight of their girls sleeping and David almost wishes that they’d never grow up. Both girls sit up at the same time, yelling at him not to finish his sentence. He then hands Smash her phone, having fixed it, and she realizes that it doesn’t need to be flashy as long as it works.

Meanwhile, Tristan slowly climbs his way up the cliff, with birds pooping on his face like he’s a mound of sawdust.

Early the next day, Ros wakes Smash up so they can make their wish, but they startle Psammead into pulling off the shower head. In turn, Smash screams her head off as water splashes everywhere, pulling David’s attention to their room.

He enters, wanting to know why Ros is wet, and Smash lies that they wanted to get an early start to the day. Ros follows her lead, having no idea that her dad will like it. He then insists that they have breakfast on the beach and takes Ros’s notebook in which she wrote the perfect wish.

The whole family visits the beach that morning and have breakfast as planned. At the same time, Smash helps Ros out with her hair and they check out the boys surfing just up ahead.

Back home, Psammead makes his way out of the bathroom and under a rug, swiping as much random stuff as he can. As for Tristan, he eventually gets to the top of the cliff and just sprawls himself there in a bid to catch his breath.

Smash had advised Ros to hit any boy she likes, assuring her that it’ll get her a date. With this in mind, Ros hits one of the surfers, and to her surprise, he asks her to get ice cream later.

Back home, Psammead is transfixed by the sight of a light bulb, so he tries to retrieve it. Unfortunately, this gets him electrocuted and Tristan comes barging in seconds later.

As the entire family drives back home, Ros and Smash giggle over pictures she took with the surfer. Upon arrival, Alice realizes that their door has been broken into. But things get worse when they find the house ransacked.

The girls run upstairs to confirm Psammead’s location, but they find the bathtub empty. They instantly know who to blame, so they head to Tristan’s house together with Ros at the forefront. Stealth doesn’t work as they get to his mansion, mostly because he wished for himself a bunch of lady guards dressed in purple.

These ladies grab all four kids and bring them befire Tristan. Smash wastes no time smack talking his fashion sense, but Ros is more interested in finding Psammead. Unfortunately, he’s been trapped in a glass box rigged with electricity.

Tristan gives him a shock for the fun of it and then holds the kids at gunpoint as he asks Psammead to grant him the fourth wish that day. The sand fairy is tired beyond measure, but he promises Tristan that this is going to be his last wish.

Stubbornly, the Trent goes on to wish for more gold than a man could ever dream for. Psammead inflates as he has always done before, breaking out of the glass as a result. By the time he deflates, a single gold coin rolls down the stairs, and then many more follow.

Psammead advises the kids to run away and they obey immediately, escaping just in time for an avalanche of gold coins to pour down the stairs. From outside, they watch as more coins fill the building, burying Tristan and bursting out of the windows.

It’s sunset soon enough, and all of it – from the fancy house to the lady guards, down to the gold – disappears. Tristan is then left wretched with a dilapidated house.

Just then, Maudie draws the attention of the other kids to a lifeless Psammead and they all begin to panic. Robbie seems to feel it the most, seeing as he tries to revive the fairy with everything he’s got. Sadly, his efforts prove pointless.

Tears fall down their cheeks as they mourn Psammead, and while everyone else is crying, Maudie pours out the sand from her shoe into the fairy’s mouth, thinking he’s hungry. Her big sister shuns her, but soon enough, the fairy comes back to life, pushing off Robbie who tried to give him mouth to mouth.

They can’t help but hug the foul mouthed creature as tears of mourning become tears of joy.

It’s now time to go back home and the girls are hell-bent on sneaking Psammead into a different beach. They wrap him up in a towel and even man the trunk just to make sure none of the parents see him.

They arrive at another beach in the area, and mere seconds after pulling into the parking lot, Ros and Smash pop open the trunk and sneak Psammead out as planned. Alice gets suspicious, so Maudie pretends to see something scary, a good enough distraction for the girls to get away.

Psammead loves the new place, so much so that he goes for a little swim in the sand. Afterwards, he sits close to the kids to hear their final wish. It’s at this moment that Robbie notices the tracker beneath his sister’s shoe. And like clockwork, Tristan shows up once again, grabbing her shoulder.

The kids struggle with him and this goes on until Alice and David come to check things out. Tristan talks smack about the kids, so David punches his lights out and immediately calls the cops.

Desperate, Ros runs back to the beach, searching and digging for Psammead. The others give up on finding the fairy, but not her. As tears fall down her cheeks, Psammead comes sliding in once more, curious to hear her wish.

Ros asks for a chance to say goodbye and shares hugs for Smash and Maudie. The little girl doesn’t want to say goodbye, but her opinion seems to be dismissed.

As much as she wants to wish her parents back together, Ros can’t seem to go through with it. Instead, she wishes that Psammead has a long peaceful sleep and doesn’t get disturbed for the next hundred years. Upon hearing this, the kids hurdle around the sand fairy to say their final goodbyes, hugging him turn after turn and hoping never to see him again.

With this, Psammead takes a big leap and disappears deep into the sand.

On the other hand, Tristan gets nabbed by the cops, and tries his best to shift the blame to the kids. Luckily, he just sounds like a crazy person.

David and Alice then track down the kids to ask how they’re doing and it’s positive responses all around. With contented smiles on their faces, they run into the embrace of their parents, accepting this dysfunctional yet beautiful family. Together, they all walk into the sunset.

Ros and Robbie never thought they’d like Samantha and Maudie, talk less of finding a wish granting fairy together. Just maybe, the greatest magic lies not in wishes, but in the messy bonds that tie us together.

Four Kids And It 2020.