Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
With the curse broken, Storybrooke’s residents remember their former lives but remain in Maine, and magic now works in the town. Emma and Mary Margaret are pulled through a portal to the Enchanted Forest, where they encounter Captain Hook and Cora, Regina’s mother, who is seeking power and a route to Storybrooke. Back home, Cora and Hook manipulate Regina’s growing effort to change for Henry, while Regina’s struggle with her past keeps her at odds with Snow and Emma.
The season also reconnects Mr. Gold with his son: Neal Cassidy is Baelfire, the child Rumplestiltskin lost when he chose power. Neal returns to Storybrooke and begins rebuilding his relationship with Emma and Henry, but Tamara, his fiancée, is secretly part of a group trying to eliminate magic. She and Greg Mendell work with Hook, capture Regina and use Greg’s search for his missing father to pursue their plan. Mary Margaret uses an enchanted candle to curse Cora’s heart and save the dying Gold. Regina unknowingly returns the heart to Cora, killing her and leaving Regina grieving and blaming Snow.
Tamara shoots Neal, who falls through a portal as Emma tries to hold on to him. Greg and Tamara activate Regina’s trigger, which begins destroying Storybrooke and turning it back into forest. Regina prepares to give her life to slow it, but Emma adds her magic to Regina’s power to stop the device; Hook secretly keeps a magic bean. The town survives, yet Greg and Tamara seize Henry and escape through a portal. Hook sails after them, and Emma, her parents, Regina and Gold follow on the Jolly Roger toward Neverland.