World-renowned physicist Dr. Jack Murray and his lab partner Hank are experimenting with fifth-dimension time travel when they suddenly disappear without a trace. Several months after this mysterious event, Dr. Murray's children - the loving but youthfully awkward Meg and the gifted, eccentric Charles Wallace - have still had no news of their father. Then, quite suddenly, they and their neighbour Calvin O'Keefe are summoned by strange, mystical forces to find the missing physicist. Thus the three embark on a perilous quest to other worlds to find Hank and Dr. Murray. Guided by three celestial beings - Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which - the travellers must survive a myriad of dangers before the children can reunite their family. Part fantasy, part coming-of-age.