The Bucket family lives in extreme poverty, with seven people sharing a tiny two-bedroom house and surviving on cabbage soup.

Willy Wonka announces that five Golden Tickets hidden in chocolate bars will grant lucky winners a tour of his famous factory.

Augustus Gloop finds the first Golden Ticket, and his entire town celebrates with a parade held in his honor.

Veruca Salt's father orders all his peanut factory workers to unwrap thousands of chocolate bars until a Golden Ticket is found.

Charlie opens his one birthday chocolate bar and finds no Golden Ticket inside, to the quiet disappointment of his whole family.

Charlie discovers a dollar bill in the snow and uses it to buy two more Wonka chocolate bars.

Charlie opens the second bar and finds a brilliant flash of gold inside — the fifth and final Golden Ticket.

After hearing Charlie found a ticket, Grandpa Joe leaps out of bed for the first time in twenty years.

Charlie and Grandpa Joe enter Wonka's factory and are overwhelmed by the underground Chocolate Room's edible meadow and flowing chocolate river.

Augustus Gloop falls into the chocolate river and is sucked up into a pipe after ignoring Mr. Wonka's repeated warnings.

Violet Beauregarde ignores Wonka's warnings and chews the experimental three-course gum, transforming into an enormous purple blueberry.

Veruca Salt runs into the Nut Room and is thrown down a garbage chute after squirrels declare her a bad nut.

Mike Teavee pulls a factory switch and jumps in front of a television lens, shrinking himself to a tiny size.

Mr. Wonka reveals the tour was a secret contest, and Charlie — the last child remaining — is to be his factory heir.

The glass elevator crashes through the roof of the Bucket family's house so the entire family can move into the factory.

The story follows Charlie Bucket, a poverty-stricken boy who dreams of entering Willy Wonka's legendary chocolate factory. When Wonka hides five Golden Tickets in chocolate bars, Charlie has little hope of winning since his family can barely afford food. Through remarkable luck, Charlie finds the final ticket and enters the factory alongside four other children who quickly reveal their character flaws. One by one, Augustus, Violet, Veruca, and Mike are removed from the tour as consequences of their greed and disobedience. Charlie alone survives by remaining patient and kind throughout, earning Wonka's ultimate reward. In a stunning revelation, Wonka declares Charlie the true winner of a secret contest to find an heir for the entire factory.

The headline events of Charlie's journey from poverty to owning Wonka's factory.

Grandpa Joe excitedly tells Charlie about Mr. Wonka's remarkable inventions, including unmeltable ice cream and color-changing candies.

Grandpa Joe tells Charlie how Prince Pondicherry's chocolate palace melted because the prince ignored Wonka's warning to eat it quickly.

Corporate spies disguise themselves among Wonka's workers and steal his recipes, forcing Wonka to dismiss all staff and close his factory.

Wonka's factory mysteriously reopens with smoke rising from chimneys and the shadows of small unknown workers visible inside.

Violet Beauregarde wins the third Golden Ticket and loudly yells at her mother to be quiet during a television interview.

Mike Teavee wins the fourth Golden Ticket and rudely shouts at reporters to stop interrupting his television watching.

Grandpa Joe secretly gives Charlie coins from his private savings and urges him to buy one more Wonka chocolate bar.

Mr. Bucket loses his factory job, leaving the Bucket family without enough money for food as they begin to starve.

A stranger in a crowd offers Charlie fifty dollars for his Golden Ticket, but the shopkeeper urges Charlie to run home.

Mr. Willy Wonka appears at the factory gates dressed extravagantly and greets each of the five children warmly by name.

Mr. Wonka explains that the Oompa-Loompas came from Loompaland, where he rescued them from dangerous beasts in exchange for their labor.

A pink boat made of boiled sweets appears on the chocolate river and the entire group climbs aboard to continue the tour.

In the Inventing Room, Mr. Wonka shows off an Everlasting Gobstopper — a candy that changes color but never gets smaller.

The group rushes through corridors lined with enticing rooms including Fizzy Lifting Drinks and Cows That Give Chocolate Milk.

Mr. and Mrs. Salt lean into the garbage chute calling for Veruca, and squirrels seize the chance to push them in too.

Before the famous factory visit, Charlie's family learns the legend of Willy Wonka from Grandpa Joe, including tales of a chocolate palace and the spies who once forced Wonka to close his doors. The factory's mysterious reopening with unseen workers sparks curiosity throughout the town, setting the stage for the Golden Ticket announcement. As other children claim their tickets through rude or privileged means, the Bucket family's situation grows desperate when Mr. Bucket loses his job. Once inside, Wonka introduces the Oompa-Loompas and whisks the group through increasingly bizarre rooms by candy boat and on foot. The secondary fates of the Salt parents and the details of each fantastical room deepen the moral accounting of the tour. These events fill in the world around Charlie's central journey and sharpen the contrast between deserving and undeserving characters.

The supporting story of Wonka's mysterious world and the characters surrounding Charlie's journey.

Mr. Bucket comes home holding a newspaper announcing that Wonka will open his factory to five Golden Ticket winners.

Veruca Salt lies on the floor kicking and screaming at her father until he secures a Golden Ticket for her.

Charlie offers to share his one birthday chocolate bar with his starving family, but every member insists he keep it all.

Charlie runs through the snow toward home waving at Wonka's silent factory gates and shouting that he will soon visit.

Press arrives at the Bucket family home to interview Charlie after word spreads that he found the fifth Golden Ticket.

A large crowd gathers outside the factory gates as Mr. Wonka makes his first public appearance to welcome the five ticket holders.

Veruca immediately demands that her father buy her an Oompa-Loompa upon first seeing the small workers in the Chocolate Room.

The Oompa-Loompas sing a mocking song about Augustus Gloop's greed as he is escorted away toward the Fudge Room.

Inside the Dark Tunnel, the other parents brand Wonka as mad and dangerous while Charlie and Grandpa Joe embrace the wild ride.

The Oompa-Loompas sing a song condemning Veruca's spoiled nature and her parents' failure to teach her any discipline.

Mr. Wonka demonstrates chocolate-by-television by sending a giant bar through the air and having Charlie pull it out of the screen.

Mrs. Teavee reaches into the glowing television screen and pulls out a tiny, drastically shrunken version of her son Mike.

From the glass elevator high above the factory, Charlie and Grandpa Joe watch all four expelled children and their families depart.

Grandpa Joe observes from the elevator that Augustus, once enormously fat, has been squeezed so thin by the pipe he is unrecognizable.

Charlie reassures his stunned family inside the crashing glass elevator that they are all going to the most wonderful place in the world.

Charlie's story is shaped by a series of pivotal moments that shift its direction, beginning with the newspaper announcement that disrupts the Bucket family's quiet routine. The other ticket winners reveal their worst qualities before they even enter the factory, creating a sharp contrast with Charlie's quiet selflessness. Once inside, key emotional turning points — the adults' fear in the Dark Tunnel, the Oompa-Loompas' condemning songs, Veruca's entitled demands — reveal the factory as a place of moral testing rather than simple entertainment. The chocolate-by-television demonstration signals the beginning of the final chapter of the tour, ending with Mike Teavee's self-inflicted fate. From the glass elevator, Charlie witnesses the transformed children departing and begins to grasp the full scope of what Wonka has been planning all along. The pool closes with Charlie's joyful declaration that his family is heading to the most wonderful place in the world.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that define Charlie's story.