When poor James Henry Trotter loses his parents in a horrible
rhinoceros accident, he is forced to live with his two wicked aunts,
Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. After three years he becomes "the saddest
and loneliest boy you could find." Then one day, a wizened old man in
a dark-green suit gives James a bag of magic crystals that promise to
reverse his misery forever. When James accidentally spills the
crystals on his aunts' withered peach tree, he sets the adventure in
motion. From the old tree a single peach grows, and grows, and grows
some more, until finally James climbs inside the giant fruit and rolls
away from his despicable aunts to a whole new life.
