Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Emma Swan follows her ten-year-old son, Henry, to Storybrooke after he runs away from his adoptive mother, Mayor Regina Mills. Henry says the town’s residents are fairy-tale characters who have forgotten their identities under Regina’s curse, and that Emma is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming who can break it. Emma stays to protect Henry and becomes sheriff, while the town’s frozen routines begin to shift around her presence.
As Emma investigates Storybrooke’s residents, their fairy-tale histories reveal the choices that brought them into conflict: Snow and Charming struggle to reunite, Jiminy Cricket becomes Archie Hopper, and the imprisoned Rumpelstiltskin is Mr. Gold, whose bargains helped shape Regina’s rise and the curse. Regina repeatedly tries to drive Emma away and keep Henry’s belief in the stories from taking hold. Emma still resists Henry’s account, even as August Booth arrives and the curse’s effects become harder to explain.
Regina and Mr. Gold maneuver around Emma as the curse weakens. In the Enchanted Forest, Regina offers Snow a poisoned apple in exchange for Charming’s life, and Snow falls into an enchanted sleep. In Storybrooke, Regina gives Emma an apple turnover; Henry eats it to prove the danger and collapses. Emma finally believes, then defeats Maleficent in dragon form to retrieve a true-love potion. Gold steals it before she can use it. After Henry dies in hospital, Emma kisses his forehead, reviving him, breaking the curse and restoring the residents’ memories. Gold releases magic into Storybrooke, changing what the town can face next.