A curious girl stumbles upon a hidden garden tucked away in the depths of her family’s estate. As she tends to the garden’s magical beauty, she discovers its healing power. With her care and determination, the garden begins to transform her paralyzed cousin’s life, helping him regain his strength and walk again.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

In 1947, on the eve of the partition between India and Pakistan, a girl named Mary wakes up and notices that no one is in the house. After walking around the scattered house for a while, she sits by the pool and hears several gunshots. Even though this scares her, Mary still sits by the pool and remains calm. As she eventually gets bored, she heads inside and plays with her doll.

She then tells her doll a story about two girls named Mary and Jemima, whose parents got kidnapped by an evil demon named Ravana. Mary looks sad as she tells the story, but she eventually falls asleep. The next morning, Mary wakes up and walks around the house to see if there’s anything she can eat. After eating some leftovers on a table, Mary suddenly bumps into a soldier who has entered the house to see if there’s anyone inside. Following this, Mary is taken to a relief camp, and there, a soldier mentions that Mary’s parents have died of cholera.

The man also says that Mary will have to be sent to England because she has an uncle there. Shortly after, Mary joins a queue to get food, and she sees a boy whose leg has been amputated. Mary doesn’t look comfortable in the camp, and after she gets the food, she throws the plate on the table in the cafeteria and calls it disgusting. A boy seated next to her immediately takes her plate, and Mary asks why he did that even though she didn’t give it to him. The boy looks confused and says that he only took the food because he knows she won’t eat it.

Mary says she just needs better food than what she has been given. She adds that her parents are also dead, but the boy says that everyone in the camp has lost someone. As he’s about to leave the table, Mary asks if he would like to hear a story, but he walks away after saying he’s not a kid. Mary looks disappointed by this, and as she tells a story to her doll outside the camp, she thinks about what the boy said. Following this, she throws the doll into the river and says she’s not a kid.

After a while, her uncle’s housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock, picks her up from the camp to take her to his estate, Misselthwaite. On the way, Medlock tells Mary not to expect anything luxurious at Misselthwaite because it’s not as great as it used to be. She adds that the army used it as a hospital during the war, and the place hasn’t been the same since.

Mary doesn’t seem to be bothered by this, and Medlock asks if she doesn’t even care about what she just said. Mary asks if it matters that she cares or not, and Medlock says she’s a weird kid. A few hours later, they arrive at Misselthwaite, and Medlock tells Mary not to expect her uncle to come running to her because he’s currently going through a tough time.

As they enter the house, Medlock reminds Mary that her uncle, Archibald, is a widower, and he has said he’ll hire someone who will tend to her soon enough. She adds that until then, Mary shouldn’t expect that there’ll be anyone to talk to. Mary says she’s not a child, and that she won’t need anyone to entertain her. Medlock doesn’t respond to this, but she mentions that Mary will soon be told the rooms she can go into and the ones she needs to stay away from. In the meantime, she tells Mary to only stay in her room, and to avoid trying to explore the building or poke about.

Mary says she’s not interested in doing that, and Medlock tells her to enter her room. As she does, Mary looks around and seems to be scared that she’s alone. Later that night, she covers herself up with a blanket and imagines playing in a beautiful garden while her mom ignores her. Her imagination is eventually interrupted when she hears someone crying and wailing inside the house. Mary looks scared because she doesn’t know who it is, but as she heads out and asks if anyone is around, she doesn’t get a response.

The next morning, a maid named Martha enters Mary’s room to serve her food. Mary asks who she is, but Martha sounds surprised that she couldn’t even greet her first. Martha then says her name, and as she lights up the fireplace, she talks about the weather and mentions that her brother, Dickon, just informed her that spring is on the way.

She adds that Dickon is always playing around on the moor, but Martha doesn’t seem interested in this. She says she was cold in the night, and no one heard her call. Martha says they were all likely sleeping already, but Mary also asks about the noises. Martha says it was nothing but the wind, but Mary still sounds pissed that no one answered her call the previous night. She also asks if Martha isn’t supposed to be her servant, who will tend to her every need, but the maid says that her job is to light up the fireplace, keep the room clean, and give Mary her food at the right time.

Martha then tells Mary to eat her food, but she says she doesn’t like porridge. She adds that she prefers bacon and eggs for breakfast. Martha jokes that she also likes Mary’s choice, but that Mary will have to eat the porridge. Mary says Martha needs to dress her first, and this leaves her shocked. She then says she can’t believe that Mary has been pampered so much that she can’t even try to dress herself without anyone’s help.

Mary sounds pissed and bangs her leg on the floor, and Martha says she can’t believe she was actually excited that there would be a young person in the house. After eating and getting dressed, Mary leaves her room and hears Archibald arguing with Medlock about the things he wants to throw away from the house. Medlock thinks he shouldn’t throw some things out, but Archibald says he doesn’t want to keep anything that will make him remember his late wife.

Shortly after, Mary leaves the house and wanders on the moor. While she’s there, she sees someone in the fog and assumes that it’s Dickon. As she tells him to wait, the person runs away, and Mary is unable to find him. She then stops in the woods and brings out her sandwich. Mary doesn’t seem to like the meat inside the sandwich, and she throws it away.

Almost immediately, a wild dog shows up behind her and eats the meat. Mary tries to scare it away, but the dog waits until it finishes the meat. As it then comes closer to Mary, she stands up and looks scared, but the dog eventually runs away. Shortly after, Mary decides to head home, but she notices that the dog is following her. Even though she finds this funny, she sends it away and walks home alone.

When she gets there, she asks Medlock if there’s a wild dog problem on the estate, but she says there’s no such thing as that in the area. She also mentions that whenever Mary goes outside to play, she must return early for her bath. Later that night, Mary wakes up from her sleep when she hears someone crying and wailing again.

This leaves her scared, and she struggles to go back to sleep. The next morning, Mary sees Martha already in her room, and she asks if the maid was working at the house when the soldiers came. Martha doesn’t respond to her, but Mary still asks if the cries she hears every night mean that the house is haunted. As Martha still remains silent, Mary tries to help her put some firewood into the fireplace. Martha then stops her and says it will stain her dress and give her more work to do.

Mary then complains about the screams she hears at night, and Martha says that if she hears more noises, then she should turn over and continue her sleep. Mary doesn’t like this answer, and she says she didn’t ask to be at the house. Martha says that Archibald didn’t also ask to take her in, but he still did it without complaining. After Martha lights up the fireplace, she leaves the room, and Mary thinks about what she said. As Mary prepares to leave the house, she goes to the kitchen and tells the chef that she needs the same sandwich she was given the previous day.

The chef initially doesn’t respond to her, but as she says please, the woman finally decides to help her with the sandwich. Mary then heads out to the moor and throws the meat on the ground. The wild dog doesn’t show up, and Mary looks disappointed. Just as she’s about to leave, the dog eventually comes out to eat the meat, and Mary looks happy. Even though she doesn’t know the gender, she assumes that the dog is a girl, and she names it Jemima.

After playing around with Jemima for a while, the dog eventually hides near a wall, and Mary looks surprised to see it. Despite being curious about what’s behind the wall, Mary tells Jemima that she has to leave so that she won’t be late for her bath. As she mentions that she’ll be back the next day, Mary immediately heads home. Later that night, Mary walks around the house and sees a room with a slightly open door. As she peeps in to see what’s inside, she sees a boy named Colin and immediately stands back.

Interestingly, Colin says he has already seen her, and that even if she escapes, he’ll report to Medlock that a young maid peeped into his room. Mary doesn’t get why he’d think she’s a maid, and she enters his room to introduce herself. She also mentions that Colin needs to respect her because her aunt was Archibald’s late wife, Grace. Colin doesn’t seem to care about this, and he says that Grace is his mom. Mary realizes that they’re cousins, and even though she seems happy about this, Colin asks why she’s in his room.

Mary asks why she shouldn’t be, and Colin says he doesn’t want a friend. Mary then asks if he’s the one who has been crying every night. She says she thought the house was cursed because of the soldiers who died there, but Colin mentions that the place has been cursed even before the war.

As Mary looks confused, Colin says that people have always believed the house was cursed because it killed his mother and tried to kill him too. Mary looks sad to hear this, and she says that her mom is also dead, and she’s the one who killed her. Colin looks shocked, but he says their experiences show that they know what tragedy means.

The next morning, Mary wakes up late, and Martha tells her that Archibald wants to see her. She then tries to get Mary to eat and change her clothes at the same time. As Martha tells her about something her mom used to say, Mary says she likes Martha’s mom. She adds that she has also seen Dickon, but he ran away from her. Martha says that Dickon doesn’t like to be bothered, and Mary tells her not to worry about that because she knows he won’t like her anyway.

Martha tells her not to think like this, and as she tries to encourage Mary to love herself, Medlock shows up and asks why they aren’t done yet. Before Martha says anything, Mary mentions that it’s her fault, and this makes the maid smile. As Medlock then takes her to Archibald’s office, she mentions that Mary mustn’t stare back at Archibald if he’s looking at her.

She also tells Mary not to say anything stupid because he already has enough things to worry about. After Mary enters the office, Archibald says that Medlock has complained about how she keeps wandering around the house. He also mentions that Medlock wants him to send her to a school, but Mary says she doesn’t want that.

Archibald says he’ll get her a teacher at home, but Mary also tells him that she’d rather learn things on her own at Misselthwaite. Archibald says there’s nothing to learn at Misselthwaite, but Mary insists that she can always go outside to play around the estate. Archibald mentions that he’s obliged by law to enroll her in a school, but Mary tells him to break the law.

Archibald then says that even though Medlock thinks Mary has a bit of her mother in her, he actually sees someone else. Mary says she knows he sees a bit of Grace in her because her mom has also said that before. Archibald ignores this and says he’ll let Mary stay in the house on the condition that she doesn’t cause him any trouble. Mary says she won’t, and Archibald says that all women in Misselthwaite eventually have to leave one way or another.

Mary doesn’t understand this, but he says she can leave. She then tells Medlock that she won’t be going to any schools because Archibald wants her to stay in the house. Medlock sounds surprised to hear this, but Mary says it’s what he said. She adds that she’ll be heading out to play soon, and she’ll need a slice of extra meat for her sandwich because she wants to grow faster. Later that day, Mary leaves the house to hang out with Jemima.

As they run around on the moor, Jemima eventually gets caught up in a trap, but Mary quickly helps her. Even though the trap hurts one of her legs, Jemima runs away and gets lost in the fog. Mary believes she went back to the strange wall, but as she gets there, she doesn’t see Jemima.

This leaves her worried, but since Jemima could be on the other side of the wall, Mary jumps over it. Unfortunately, she falls badly on the floor but doesn’t get hurt. As she looks around, Mary notices that the place looks quite nice, but she keeps looking for Jemima. When she eventually sees the dog, it turns out that she’s already on the other side of a small stream. Mary tries to get Jemima to come to her side, but she just stands still.

Mary then enters the stream and crosses to the other side to meet Jemima. Mary tries to check Jemima’s leg, but the dog doesn’t put it down, so she suggests exploring the garden instead. After going around and seeing several beautiful flowers, Mary eventually stops to admire the place.

Shortly after, a bird flies into a hole near where Mary is standing, and she looks surprised. After it eventually flies away, Mary checks what’s inside the hole and finds an old key, but she doesn’t know what it unlocks. As she hears Medlock calling her, Mary keeps the key and tells Jemima that she’ll return the next day to treat her leg.

A few minutes later, Mary reaches the house, but Medlock can’t believe her eyes because Mary’s dress is dirty and wet. As Medlock asks what happened, Mary says that she’s only playing around like Archibald wants her to. Later that night, Mary hears Colin crying when Medlock tries to force him to take his medicine. As he refuses, Medlock leaves the room, and Mary sneaks in. Colin then mentions that he sometimes needs to be restrained or medicated because his dad says it will help him.

However, he says he rarely sees Archibald because he’s always busy. Mary then sees Colin’s wheelchair and goes to sit on it. Colin tries to get her to stand up, but Mary doesn’t listen to him. As she then asks if he uses it much, he says he doesn’t. He adds that he has a hunchback, just like his dad, but his condition is worse because he can’t walk.

Mary suggests pushing him in the wheelchair, but Colin says it’s not worth it because he’s dying. Mary looks shocked and says he doesn’t look like he’s dying, but Colin asks if she has seen many people in such situations. Mary doesn’t respond to this, but she says that Colin might get better if he just goes outside.

Colin says he can’t, and that the one time he tried, the stench of the flowers nearly killed him. Mary thinks it’s weird that he’s scared of flowers, but she decides to cheer him up by talking about a magical place with a dog that can play with him. Colin says it’s not real, and that he doesn’t even care because he wouldn’t be able to go out.

Colin also tells her to leave, but Mary sounds pissed that he’s trying to send her out after she told him about her magical place. As she’s heading out, Mary sees a picture of Grace on the wall and says that people believe they look alike. Colin says he hates his mom for dying, and as Mary asks why, he says he can’t believe she left him alone even though she claimed to love him. Mary says her mom never loved her, but as she’s about to leave, Colin asks if she can read a book to him while he tries to sleep.

She agrees to do this, and after he falls asleep, she heads out and sees a strange room nearby. Even though she has been told not to enter some rooms around the house, Mary still goes in and sees some of her aunt’s old clothes and jewelry. Mary wears one of the dresses and also puts on a necklace while admiring herself in front of a mirror.

As she walks around the room, she sees a picture of her mom and her aunt. After a while, Mary leaves the room, but she realizes that she forgot to return the necklace, so she keeps it. Before she can head to her room, Mary sees Archibald standing outside Colin’s room as he thinks of going in to see his son. He eventually decides against it and walks away, and this surprises Mary, who also heads to her room.

The next morning, Mary asks Martha what she knows about her aunt, Grace. Martha asks if Mary’s mom never mentioned Grace to her, and she says she barely did. Martha then mentions that Grace and Mary’s mom were very close and always happy together. She adds that Mary’s mom cried a lot after Grace’s death, and she never recovered from the loss. Mary then remembers how her mom always felt unwell and kept ignoring her.

As her condition got worse, Mary’s dad had to stop Mary from disturbing her mom. He also told Mary that her mom was sick, but she sounded really angry and asked why her mom couldn’t just die and leave them alone. Mary seems to regret this, and she eventually leaves the house after dressing herself without Martha’s help.

On her way to find Jemima, she sees Dickon trying to run away from her, but she stops him. She then accuses him of running away because he has hurt Jemima. Dickon denies this and mentions that the dog won’t like being called Jemima because it’s a boy. He also asks if Martha knows where to find the dog so he can help treat the injured leg. Mary doesn’t think she can trust Dickon, but he eventually swears that he means no harm.

Following this, Mary takes him to the garden, and he helps her bandage Jemima’s leg. Mary asks why Jemima can’t walk yet, and Dickon says it might take some time for the dog to heal. He adds that they’ll have to hope that the magical garden makes Jemima better the next day.

Following this, Mary heads home and tells Colin about the garden and Jemima. As she then sits on his chair, Mary asks Colin the last time he used it, but he ignores the question. She also asks if he has been lying to her, but he says she’s the bigger liar because he knows she didn’t kill her mom. Mary asks if he has already told Medlock about her, but he says he just mentioned that he has heard of her before. He adds that he knows Mary’s parents died of cholera.

Mary then says there’s something she wants to show Colin. As he gets into his wheelchair, she takes him to Grace’s room and shows him a picture of their moms sitting in the secret garden. She also tells him to imagine himself being there because she knows he used to walk in the garden when he was little.

Colin thinks she’s making fun of him, and she says she’s likely jealous that his mom loved him. As she tries to scream so that Medlock will come and find him in the room, Mary closes his mouth. They both eventually fall on the floor, and as Mary checks Colin’s back, she sees that he doesn’t even have a hunchback. Colin sounds confused, but Mary insists that his back is normal. The next day, Mary heads out to the secret garden and sees that Jemima can walk well again.

Dickon is also there, and he says that the garden likely helped the dog. Following this, Mary calls it a magical garden, and she plays around with Dickon and Jemima. As they play near the wall, they see that there’s a gate on one side of it. After checking it out, they see that it’s locked, but Mary realizes that the key she saw the other day is for the gate.

Just then, she heads home with Dickon so they can sneak Colin out of the house. Martha sees them and doesn’t think it’s a good idea, but Mary convinces her to help them distract Medlock. After she does this, Mary and Dickon enter Colin’s room, but he says he doesn’t want to leave. Mary says it’s safe, and after managing to change his mind, she takes him out of the house. Before they head for the secret garden, Colin thinks something will happen to him, but Mary assures him that he’ll be fine because nothing has happened yet.

She then takes him through the secret garden’s gate, and Colin sees the beautiful flowers around. He also enjoys being there, and after a while, Mary introduces him to Jemima. The next day, Medlock follows Mary after she leaves the house. Mary notices this and hides in a tree, but as she gets down, Medlock catches her. As Mary then wonders what she wants, Medlock accuses her of stealing Grace’s necklace.

Mary is shocked because Medlock has found where she hid it, and she’s unable to deny it. When they get to the house, Medlock reports this to Archibald and mentions that Mary has also met Colin and taken him out of the house. Archibald can’t believe this, but Mary says she only took Colin outside to make him excited about life so that he wouldn’t just give up on being alive.

Archibald says she could’ve killed him, and as he enters Grace’s room and sees the place scattered, he tells Medlock to send Mary to a boarding school. Mary doesn’t like this, but Archibald has already made up his mind. As Mary gets locked inside the room, she angrily climbs a rocking horse and drags it down.

Surprisingly, Mary sees some letters inside it, and as she reads them, she discovers new things about Grace and the secret garden. The next day, Mary sneaks out of the house and goes to the garden. There, she meets Dickon and tells him that her mom knew Grace was about to die, so she came to spend her last few hours with her. Mary adds that according to the letters, Grace always wanted to die near the unique tree in the garden. She also says that the garden belongs to Grace, and they need it to work so she can cure her son.

The next day, Mary and Dickon bring Colin to the secret garden again. After teaching him how to swim inside the stream, Mary takes Colin to the tree where his mom died. Colin doesn’t look happy to be there, and he insists that his mom died in a hospital.

Mary then talks about the content of the letters she saw and how Grace now controls the garden after dying there, but Colin still doesn’t believe this. He also tells Dickon to get him some flowers which he can drop for his mom before he heads home. Mary looks disappointed by this, and as they head home, the plants in the garden start dying.

Later that night, while Mary is thinking about everything that has happened, a strange wind blows the letters in her room, and her mom suddenly appears to her. Mary is shocked by this, but she says sorry for not understanding how hurt her mom was when she lost Grace. Shortly after, Mary stands outside Colin’s room and tells him that from what she has read in some of the letters shared between their moms, she has discovered that Archibald is only focusing his fears on his son because he desperately wants to avoid a repeat of what happened to Grace.

Surprisingly, Colin walks slowly to the door to open it, and even though he eventually falls, Mary says she can’t believe he actually walked. The next day, they head to the garden together to read the letters sent by their moms to each other. After reading a couple of them, Mary also realizes that her mom always talked about how much she loved her.

A while later, when Mary returns home, Medlock reminds her that she’ll soon have to leave for her new school, but she runs away to find Archibald. She then accuses him of projecting his fears on his son and making him think he has a hump even though he doesn’t. She adds that Grace won’t be happy about what he has done, but Archibald doesn’t say anything.

Medlock then apologizes for what Mary said and tells him not to worry about her because she’ll leave the next day. Later that night, Mary decides to run away from the house because she doesn’t want to go to the boarding school. On her way out, she sees Archibald alone in his office, thinking about everything he has done.

The next morning, while Mary, Colin, and Dickon are in the garden, they see smoke coming from the house and look shocked. Colin looks scared for his dad and tells Mary and Dickon to run to the house to check on him. As they get there, the house is already in flames, but Mary still goes inside to help Archibald, who says he’s not leaving until he sees his son.

Mary says that Colin is safe, and Archibald finally agrees to follow her. As she drags him, Archibald keeps falling down and blaming himself for the fire because he was the one who mistakenly caused it. He also says he has ruined everything, but Mary tells him that they need to leave before the fire worsens. As he struggles to stand up, Grace’s ghost appears before them and helps him up. She then guides them to find a way out.

Unfortunately, they eventually fall just as they nearly get to the entrance, and Mary sees her mom’s ghost. Mary then says she wishes her mom could stay with her, but she just kisses her daughter’s forehead and leaves. Almost immediately, the fire brigade arrives and rescues them. As they get outside, Archibald tells Mary to take him to his son, and she leads him and Medlock to the garden. They look shocked to see how beautiful the place looks, and as Archibald sees his son, he says sorry to him for everything and mentions that he thought he had lost him.

As he walks toward him, Colin tells him to wait. He then uses a walking stick to stand up and walk toward his dad. Archibald looks shocked and asks how it’s possible, and Colin says it’s his mom’s magic. Just then, Archibald hugs his son, and Mary looks happy for them. A while later, Archibald begins rebuilding his estate while Colin, who can now walk well, plays in the secret garden with Mary and Dickon.

After losing his wife, Archibald became depressed and constantly feared that something bad would also happen to his son. Because of this, he kept his son indoors and made him take unnecessary medication, even though he was perfectly okay.

With the help of Mary, who always insisted on seeing Colin go outside to play with her, Archibald eventually regretted his actions in nearly ruining his son’s life. Archibald also realized that holding onto the pain of losing his wife only prolonged his suffering and that of his son.

Grief is a heavy burden that can sometimes cloud our judgment, but one thing we should know is that healing begins when we allow love and hope to guide us forward.

The Secret Garden 2020.