Orphaned while living in India, 10-year-old Mary Lennox returns to Yorkshire, England to live with her embittered, reclusive Uncle Archibald, whom she has never met. There, the ill-tempered and lonely Mary meets Martha, a chambermaid, who tells her of a secret garden which belonged to her aunt Lily before she died. Mary's search for the garden introduces her to a slew of other characters and a spirited robin that seems to be trying to talk to her.