A girl stumbles upon a mysterious island unlike anything she’s ever seen. Time stands still, and no one ever grows older. As she explores its secrets, she realizes the island holds a hidden truth that could change everything.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

At the diner of a lady named Angie, a boy named Thomas celebrates his birthday with his cousins, Wendy, James, and Douglas, who happen to be Angie’s kids. After Thomas is served his meal, his grandmother jokes with her friends about how her grandkids are now growing older, and it won’t be long before they start helping out at the diner. As she goes close to the kids, she says that Douglas can be a waiter while James will be the cashier.  

Thomas then mentions that he would like to be a pirate, but his grandmother says he’ll be a mop and broom man. Thomas looks disappointed as he hears this, and he says he won’t settle for that. His grandmother doesn’t seem to care about what he thinks, and she jokes about how no one ever wants to be a mop and broom man, but they eventually have to do the job.  

Thomas still doesn’t believe he’ll end up doing that, and he angrily walks out of the diner. As he keeps telling himself that he won’t be a mop and broom man, a train passes the front of the diner, and a strange person moving on the roof tells Thomas to jump onboard. Thomas doesn’t hesitate in doing this, and Wendy sees him leaving with the strange person, but she doesn’t understand what’s going on.  

A few years later, Wendy is now older, and she works at the diner to help her mom. Interestingly, Thomas has been missing since he left on the train, and no one knows where he went. Much later, Douglas and James enter the diner and start playing around until Angie tells them to head to their room.  

When they get there, the boys tell Angie to tell them a story, but she says she can’t because she has work to do. The boys complain about how she hasn’t told them any stories in a while, and she decides to tell them one. As she starts, though, the boys find it boring and suggest that she tells them a real story from when she was younger.  

Angie says she won’t do this, but the boys then tell Wendy about how their mom had a lot of fun growing up. Wendy then asks Angie what her wildest dream was as a kid. Angie says it was to ride the rodeo, but her sons laugh at her. She then says she could’ve actually done it, but she gave up on it because of her children. Wendy asks what her current dream is, and Angie says it’s to take care of her children.  

Wendy looks disappointed as she hears this, but Angie says it’s just life, and that dreams constantly change. After she leaves the room, Douglas and James talk about how their mom still probably wants to do the things she dreamt of as a child, but she’s just too old for them already. Wendy tells them not to talk like that, but James says it’s just how things work when people get older.  

Wendy insists that he shouldn’t talk about it anymore, and he says he was only trying to explain how life works. Wendy doesn’t respond to this, but she tells herself that her life won’t be like that. The next day, as the kids leave for school, Douglas and James stop at a small pond to see what they can catch with their small nets. Just then, Wendy walks away and sees a train leaving the area. As she remembers what happened to Thomas, she runs after it to see if she can find the person her cousin followed the other day.  

Before she goes too far, her brothers call her back, and as she sees Angie serving some guests in the diner, she looks sad because she doesn’t want to end up like that. Later that night, while her brothers are sleeping, a train stops near the diner, and Wendy sees someone’s shadow moving on top of it. As she looks outside, she confirms that there’s really someone running on the roof, and she wakes her brothers up and says that they need to see something.  

The boys don’t get why she woke them up, but as they look outside, they see someone on the train’s roof. As Wendy prepares to leave the house to jump on the train, James decides to join her, but Douglas asks if they’ll just leave their mom. James says they need to go, and Douglas eventually joins them in jumping on the train.  

After a while, a boy named Peter appears in front of them, and the kids look shocked. Wendy then asks where the train will be stopping, but Peter says that there are no stops because they’re going on an adventure. In the morning, Peter keeps staring outside the train car, and Douglas asks what he’s looking for.  

He doesn’t respond to this, but after a while, Peter tells Wendy and her brothers to stand by the edge of the train car. Douglas doesn’t seem to trust Peter, but James encourages him to do as they’ve been told. Suddenly, Peter pushes them into a nearby river, and they look scared.  

Luckily, nothing happens to them, and as they wonder why Peter did that, Wendy sees a girl named Cudjoe Head inside a boat. Wendy asks for her help, but Cudjoe Head looks for Peter in the water and asks why he brought them to the river. Peter insists that Cudjoe Head has to help them onto the boat, but she says she won’t do that because she doesn’t think Wendy stands a chance of surviving with them.  

Wendy doesn’t know what she means, but Peter eventually gets her and her brothers to join the boat. As they head toward an island, Peter sees an active volcano on it and calls it Mother. Wendy and her brothers don’t get this, but Peter says he’s happy to see Mother.  

Shortly after, they leave the boat, and as Peter runs around the Island, he tells them to follow him. While they’re running, Wendy sees an old man named Buzzo walking really fast, and she finds this surprising. Shortly after, Wendy and her brothers see a boy named Sweet Heavy controlling a volcano on the island.  

Wendy looks amazed by this, and she heads over to meet Sweet Heavy. As her brothers also follow her, Sweet Heavy realizes that they’re new on the island, and he asks if they have anyone looking for them. Wendy says it’s probably just their mom, and Sweet Heavy mentions that he has one too.  

As he talks about how he can play with the volcano, Peter shows up and says he can do something even better. Suddenly, he stands on a rock and starts moving his hands to cause a series of explosions that head toward the kids. Wendy and her brothers quickly run away before they get hurt, but they then hear a voice shouting that someone named Blackbeard is coming.  

As the voice also tells them to run for their lives, a small boy appears in the woods and falls down while running. Surprisingly, it turns out to be Thomas, and Wendy looks shocked. As Thomas stands up, he runs toward her and attacks her while saying he’s Blackbeard. Wendy and her brothers try to remind him that he’s Thomas, but he warns them not to call him that. As he eventually runs away, Wendy looks shocked and asks her brothers why Thomas didn’t grow up.  

Douglas and James don’t have an answer to this, and they just remain silent. Later that night, while Peter and the other kids on the island are singing and having fun, Wendy and her brothers join them. The next morning, Wendy wakes up and sees Peter standing alone by the edge of a cliff.  

As she asks what he’s doing, Thomas says he’s speaking to Mother. Wendy then goes to meet Peter while he’s meditating. As she asks what Mother is telling him, Peter tells her to stay silent and try to listen. Wendy cannot hear anything, and as she believes he’s just messing with her, she says she’s really serious about knowing Mother. She also mentions that she can be his best friend, and Peter seems to be interested in this.  

He then jumps down from the cliff and tells her to come with him. Instead of jumping down, Wendy looks really scared, so she just walks to the bottom of the cliff and jumps into the water. She eventually finds an underground cave with a river, and as she looks around for Peter, she appears to be really scared of how the place looks.  

Suddenly, Peter shows up and laughs at her, and this makes her feel relieved. Before she knows what’s happening, though, a giant glowing fish swims toward them, and it turns out that she’s the Mother Peter has been talking to. It also turns out that Mother protects the kids on the island, and as long as they keep believing in her, they’ll never grow up. 

Wendy looks shocked as she sees the giant fish, and as she keeps admiring Mother, James and Douglas show up next to her, and she looks happy to see them. After they play around in the water, Mother causes an explosion on the island, and Wendy realizes that she’s the one controlling the volcanos. When she goes back up with the others, Wendy discovers that she can now play with the volcanoes like Peter and Sweet Heavy.  

Peter then tells Wendy and her brothers to swear to always believe in Mother so that they’ll never be old, and they do just this while looking quite excited to be on the island. A while later, Wendy starts missing Angie, and as she holds some flowers in her hands, she says she would like to tell her mom that she has decided to stay on the island a little longer. She adds that she wants her mom to know that she’s being as wild as she can be, and she’ll show her what she means when she returns.  

Following this, she blows off the flowers and hopes that the message will get to Angie. Shortly after, Peter takes Wendy to a cave where he usually draws on the wall. Wendy admires one of the drawings and asks when he drew it, but he says he can’t remember. He then mentions that he nearly drowned in the sea many years ago, but Mother saved him and brought him to the island.  

As Wendy looks around, she sees an old picture of Peter and his family. Wendy looks shocked by this, and as she asks why they left him behind, he says he actually ran away so that no one could find him. Wendy says she’s sure his family tried to find him, but Peter doesn’t respond to this. The next morning, Wendy wakes up and sees Buzzo pouring water into Thomas’ mouth while he’s sleeping. As she asks who he is, Buzzo runs away, but she follows him.  

Just as he crosses into a deserted part of the island, Peter shows up with the other kids and tells her not to go there. Wendy asks about the deserted place, but Sweet Heavy says they’re not supposed to go there. Just then, Thomas waves at Buzzo, and Wendy asks if he knows him.  

Thomas says he could be Buzzo, but as she doesn’t understand what he means, Peter says it can’t be him. Buzzo hears them and says he’s still the same person, but Peter still doesn’t believe him. As Wendy asks what happened to him, Thomas mentions that Buzzo was just like them until he lost his best friend a while ago and started growing old.  

James asks if they’ll also grow old like Buzzo, but Peter ignores the question and says that they need to head back to their part of the Island. It then turns out that on the island, kids can still grow old if they start having sad thoughts or second-guessing their belief in Mother. Shortly after, Peter takes the kids to see a capsized boat near the shore. As they go close to it, they see that the boat is called Manana. Wendy and her brothers enter the boat to check what’s inside, but Douglas eventually looks scared and suggests going back to the shore.  

James says they just need to go to the front of the boat, and that there’s a door underwater, which they can use to get in. Douglas still looks scared, and he tells Wendy to stay back, but she refuses. As she swims to the front, James and Douglas follow her. Unfortunately, Douglas hits his head against a heavy metal and starts bleeding. James and Wendy are unaware of this, but as they get to the front of the boat, they see his blood in the water.  

They quickly dive back in to look for Douglas, but they don’t see him. As they look worried, Peter and the other kids drag them back to the shore. Wendy doesn’t get this, and she tells him to leave her alone so she can look for her brother, but Peter tells her to trust Mother because she never allows anything to happen to her kids.  

Wendy doesn’t understand this, but she looks calmer and follows the kids to start calling out Douglas’ name to see if he can hear them. A while later, they don’t find Douglas, and James looks devastated because his brother might be dead. He then starts spending time alone to think about Douglas and what could’ve happened to him.  

A few days later, Wendy sleeps next to James, but as she wakes up, she notices that one of his hands has grown old. Wendy is shocked by this, but as James sees it, he tells her not to say anything about it to Peter or the other kids. The next day, while they continue their search for Douglas, Peter starts suspecting that something is wrong with James, but he doesn’t say anything.  

Shortly after, Wendy looks around and sees some old surveillance cameras in the woods. She then discovers that there’s a building nearby, and as she enters it, she calls James and Peter to come and check it out. Suddenly, Wendy starts hearing Peter telling James to drop his machete.  

As she gets to where they are, James shows Peter his hand and tells him that he really needs to use the machete to cut it off. He adds that he swore to Douglas that he would never get old, and he doesn’t want that to happen. As he tells Peter to cut off the hand for him, Wendy looks shocked and tells him not to do it.  

Peter doesn’t seem to care, and he asks if James believes cutting his hand will prevent him from growing up. He says he does, but Wendy still tries to stop them from doing something like that. Peter says he can do whatever he wants, and as he tells James to get ready, he cuts off the hand.  

James starts bleeding heavily, and Thomas looks shocked. As Peter sees James’ blood flowing on the ground, he says he believes their plan is working, but Wendy pushes him away and says it’s not. Peter says she needs to believe in the process, but Wendy mentions that it’s time to get help from real grownups.  

Peter looks pissed to hear this, and he tells Thomas and the other kids to leave with him. As they head out, Wendy carries James out of the building and takes him through the woods to see if they can find anyone. Luckily, they see a donkey nearby, and as Wendy calls for help, Buzzo shows up.  

She then begs him to help her brother, but he looks shocked and asks if she’s not scared of him. Wendy says she’s not, and she takes him to see James’ amputated hand, which is now covered. As Wendy asks if he knows anyone who can help James, Buzzo tells her to stop being worried so that she won’t grow old like him.  

Following this, he carries James and puts him on his donkey, after which they head for the deserted part of the island. Much later, everywhere gets dark, and they decide to stop their journey to rest for the night. While James is sleeping, Wendy asks Buzzo what it’s like to be old, and he says there’s nothing special about it, and that the only way people realize they’re old is when no one talks to them anymore.  

Wendy looks sad about this, and she says she’ll make Buzzo and James feel like children again. Buzzo doesn’t seem to care about this, and he tells her that it will be much better if she learns not to be too attached. Wendy doesn’t respond to this, but she tells herself that she doesn’t want to learn something like that.  

The next morning, James wakes up and follows Wendy and Buzzo as they continue walking in the deserted part of the island. After a while, they get to a place where a lot of old people are living. It then turns out that the old people there are the children who lost faith in Mother and were sent away from Peter’s part of the island.  

As they walk around the place, Wendy sees how miserable the old people look, and she asks Buzzo if Peter knows what’s happening there. Buzzo says that Peter only knows what he wants to know, and Wendy realizes that he doesn’t care about what happens to the old people. Shortly after, Wendy and James walk close to the sea and see some dead fish on the shore.  

Wendy asks why they’re killing the fish, and one of the old people on the beach tells her that they’re actually fishing for Mother. She adds that most people believe eating Mother will make them young again. Wendy sounds shocked to hear this, and as she asks if they would really hurt Mother, Buzzo says it’s nearly impossible because they’ve not been able to catch her.  

Much later, Wendy and James sit inside an old restaurant with some of the old people. Wendy doesn’t get why they aren’t talking to each other, and she says it’s why they’re miserable. As she tries to cheer them up by getting them to dance even though there’s no music, James seems frustrated by this, and he just walks out.  

Wendy follows him to ask what’s wrong, but he tells her to leave him alone. He then walks over to meet the old people on the beach to tell them that they’re fishing for Mother the wrong way. As one of them asks what they have to do, James says they need to use the kids on the island as bait because Mother cares about them.  

Wendy cannot believe what he wants to do, and she advises him against it. However, James refuses to listen to her, and she runs away before they think of using her as bait. While she’s hiding nearby, she sees James leading the old people away to find the kids. Wendy eventually falls asleep in her hiding spot, and she dreams of returning home to see Angie again. 

When she wakes up, she heads outside and sees that the old people are far gone. Unfortunately, Sweet Heavy and some of the other kids are kidnapped by James and his team of old people, and Peter isn’t able to stop them. Much later, Wendy goes to find Peter to ask what they’ll do, but he seems pissed at her for going to meet the old people.  

Wendy doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with growing old, but Peter doesn’t seem to like it. He also mentions that James is now an enemy, but Wendy thinks he’s at fault for cutting her brother’s hand. Peter refuses to take the blame for this, and as he tries to attack her, she knocks him down.  

After he stands up, he starts regretting why he brought her to the island. He then says that Wendy doesn’t believe in him enough, and she mentions that it’s because nothing he says ever works. Peter looks disappointed to hear this, but he still tells her to come with him to look for the kids. After a while, they see the old people fixing the Manana boat to make it suitable for fishing. Wendy also sees that James is now looking older, and he has made a hook, which he plans to attach to his hand.  

She looks devastated by this, but Peter tells her not to let her mind be filled with sad thoughts so that she won’t end up like James. As the boat eventually leaves, Wendy and Peter start thinking of what they can do to save the other kids. Peter suggests jumping into the water to follow them, but as they do this, he starts drowning.  

Wendy is shocked by this, but just before she gets to him, Mother shows up in the area and brings them out safely. Shortly after, Peter tells Wendy that Mother wants her to stay on the Island for a long time. He adds that she can also have whatever she wants in the world.  

Wendy doesn’t seem interested in this, but she doesn’t say anything. Suddenly, she notices some new drawings in the cave and asks Peter if he drew them. As he says he didn’t, Wendy walks around the cave and sees Douglas, much to her surprise. They both look excited to see each other, and Douglas asks about James. Wendy says he’s sick, but that he should be okay when he sees Douglas.  

Following this, Wendy, Peter, and Douglas take a small boat to meet up with the Manana. They don’t see anyone inside there, but as they climb onboard, the old people show up out of nowhere and grab them. They’re then taken to meet James, who looks shocked to see Douglas alive.  

He also appears to be pissed that his brother stayed young without him, and as he angrily asks how he did it, Douglas says he doesn’t know. James eventually leaves the cabin, and Wendy goes to meet him. As she mentions that he needs to remember who he is, he says he’s now a different person.  

Just then, James notices that Mother is nearby, and as he picks up his harpoon, Peter shows up and tries to stop him from hurting her. Unfortunately, the other old people catch him, and Wendy is also held back when she tries to stop James. Suddenly, James throws the harpoon at Mother, and the kids are shocked by this.  

The other old people then throw a net into the water to catch Mother. While they’re distracted, Wendy and Douglas free the other kids, and they jump into the water to try to save Mother. Unfortunately, Mother is already badly hurt, and Peter struggles to remove the net on her body. As she slowly loses her glow, Wendy feels bad about this, and even though Peter keeps trying to help her, she ends up dying. Meanwhile, James retrieves his harpoon from the water, and it turns out that he has already caught a piece of Mother’s flesh on it.  

Instead of eating it to see if it will make him young again, James just stares at it because it looks rotten. As Peter swims out of the water, Wendy sees him looking sad, so she goes to console him over Mother’s death. He then says he’ll grow old without Mother, but Wendy tells him not to think like that. As she says that his story doesn’t have to end that way, she tells him about a mother who lived in a restaurant with her three kids. She adds that the kids initially left their mom alone but eventually returned to meet her after a while.  

Peter realizes that she’s talking about herself and her brothers, and he says she’s not telling a story. However, Wendy says she is, and that their lives will become the greatest story ever told. As Peter looks confused, she adds that their stories will get bigger the more they grow old.  

She also mentions that they’ll be able to explore the world and have kids one day. Peter asks if he can do that without growing old, but Wendy says it’s impossible. Peter doesn’t like this, but as he thinks about it, Buzzo starts singing a song, and the kids join him. Peter then mentions that he believes growing old is another adventure. 

Suddenly, Mother’s glow starts rising from the bottom of the sea, and the kids notice that the volcano on the island is still active. Wendy then encourages them to keep singing, and as they do this, a volcano erupts on the island, and the kids look happy that Mother is back. Following this, Douglas goes to meet James to hold his hand.  

James looks sad and says he won’t be able to go home, and Douglas says he knows. As they both feel unhappy about their situation, Peter says he has an idea that will make James continue to live with purpose on the island. He then challenges James to a fight and calls him Captain Hook.  

It then turns out that Peter’s plan is to keep James happy and make him live with the spirit of a child by engaging in endless playful battles on the island. As the old people hail James as Captain Hook, he looks happy and accepts the challenge to be Peter’s new enemy. Shortly after, Wendy and Douglas return home with the other kids, and they reunite with their families.  

Many years later, Wendy is now much older, but still lives in her mom’s diner with her child, Jane. One night, while Wendy is checking out one of her old books about Peter, she hears a strange sound from Jane’s room. As she checks it out, she sees that Jane is no longer in her room.  

Wendy looks shocked by this, but as she hears a train passing near the diner, she heads out and sees Jane leaving with Peter. She then runs after the train, and Jane keeps encouraging her to run faster. However, Peter says he’s sure Wendy won’t make it to the train because she’s too old. Wendy still tries to get to the train, but as she falls down, she just gives up and waves at Jane while smiling because she knows that Peter will bring her back one day.  

Despite the fact that Wendy and Peter had their differences, they worked together to ensure that Mother stayed alive to keep protecting the children on the Island. Wendy also made Peter realize that growing old isn’t as bad as he thinks, and this made him feel more comfortable relating with James and the other old people. Sometimes, growing old can feel quite daunting, but just like Peter said, it is just another adventure waiting to be explored.  

Wendy 2020.