Nine-year-old Phoebe Lichten is an imaginative girl who sometimes has trouble separating her fantasy world from the real world. Phoebe questions the monotonous school rules and is rejected by the teachers. When provoked by her classmates, she overreacts, which she herself is most upset about. But without addressing the provocations or the complicity of her classmates, Phoebe alone is punished. When the theatre project "Alice in Wonderland" is offered at school, she applies for a role and the eccentric and unorthodox theatre teacher Mrs. Dodger gives her the leading part. Phoebe feels a close bond with Alice from the play, because isn't Alice just like her?