Winnie’s fastidious mother and grandmother strictly control Winnie’s ten-year old life, and she longs to break free from
her tiny existence behind the cottage fence. Resolved to run away, she wakes early one morning and wanders off into the woods behind her house. After walking for quite some time in no particular direction, she comes to a clearing.
From behind the trees, she sees a beautiful boy
drink from a hidden
spring under a giant tree. She is very thirsty, so she approaches the boy to drink from the spring, too. They introduce themselves, and Jesse insists that Winnie refrain from drinking. She becomes angry and is about to drink anyway, when Ma and Jesse’s brother Miles come into the clearing. They all fly into a panic at the thought of Winnie drinking from the stream, so they kidnap her by putting her onto Ma’s horse and running very quickly.
After leading Winnie for some time, they stop by a river to explain the situation to Winnie. The family all drank from that spring 87 years ago, and none of them has aged since. In fact, despite all sorts of accidents, they are unable to die. If Winnie were to drink from that spring, she would stay ten years old for the rest of her eternal life.
To make sure Winnie understands the gravity of their situation, they take her back to Ma’s house so she can meet Tuck. After talking to all the family members, Winnie knows it affects them all differently. Ma just tries to live as normally as possible. Miles believes living forever is a huge responsibility, and he is trying to find something meaningful to do. Jesse thinks it’s all a great adventure and has fun with it. But Tuck is the most affected of the four. He longs to die, feeling as though he has been removed from the natural order of things.
Winnie has a lovely time at their disorderly home. Jesse asks Winnie to wait until she is seventeen like him to drink some of the water, so they can be married and have adventures together. Although there are bigger matters at hand, Winnie knows that she will have to make that choice someday.
Although the family plans to take Winnie home the next day, fate intervenes. A man in a yellow suit had followed the kidnapping and heard the miraculous story. He goes to Winnie’s house and tells her parents he will trade Winnie’s safe return for the woods behind the cottage. He wants to bottle the water and sell it so that he’ll become very rich. Winnie’s family makes the trade, and the man in the yellow suit shows up at Ma and Tuck’s house as they are finishing their breakfast. As he is taking Winnie from them, he tells his diabolical plan. Without thinking twice, Ma takes their shotgun and kills the man in the yellow suit. She knows that the secret of the spring must be kept at any cost.
The constable who had followed behind the man in the yellow suit arrives, arrests Ma, and takes Winnie home. Ma is sure to be hanged for shooting the man, and that would be the worst thing of all. If Ma is hanged, she would be unable to die.
To help her new friends and keep the spring’s secret, Winnie volunteers to take Ma’s place in jail after the family breaks her out. This would give them more time to escape. The plan works perfectly, and although Winnie is in trouble at home, she knows she has done the right thing.
Many years later, the Tuck family returns to Winnie’s town to see what has become of her. They find her buried in the town cemetery. She married, had children, and lived a long life. Although Jesse is sad he and Winnie will not be together now, they are all proud of her for making the choice to live a natural life.