Set in the 1920's Vienna, nine-year-old Mary (Elle Fanning) lives in a home filled with lovely things and loneliness. Besieged by bratty brother Max (Aaron Drozin) and neglected by well intentioned but distracted parents (Richard E. Grant, Yuilya Vysotskaya), she yearns for companionship and adventure. On Christmas Eve, Mary's beloved Uncle Albert (Nathan Lane) arrives with the gift of a wooden nutcracker doll. Later that night, her imagination brings the doll to life and it takes her on a wondrous journey though a stunning dimension where toys assume human form and everything appears ten times larger. However, danger lurks. An army of toothy rat creatures, led by the flamboyant Rat King (John Turturro) and his devious mother (Frances de la Tour), has unleashed a plot to overthrow humanity.