Alice is bored while sitting with her older sister, who is reading a book that "had no pictures or conversations in it". Alice takes interest in a passing white rabbit that is dressed in a waistcoat and muttering, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" She follows the rabbit down a rabbit hole, then finds herself falling down into a dreamlike world, where she has several adventures.
Alice grows to gigantic size and then shrinks to a fraction of her original height, meets a group of small animals swimming in a sea of her own (previously shed) tears, and gets trapped in the rabbit's house when she enlarges herself again. After meeting the Duchess, she carries away a baby that changes into a pig, then meets the Cheshire cat, which disappears, leaving only its smile behind.
She joins the Mad Hatter and the March Hare at a never-ending tea party, goes to the seashore and meets a Gryphon and a Mock Turtle, and finally attends the trial of the Knave of Hearts, who has been accused of stealing tarts. Just as Alice defies the Queen of Hearts, the dream ends and Alice wakes up at the picnic with her sister.
