Haku tells her to quickly cross the river or she'll be caught, so Chihiro runs back to her parents as lights start to come on, revealing shaddowy creatures walking and working. Arriving at the place her parent's stopped she tugs on her father's shoulder with the warning, and cries in shock as a two pigs, in her father and mother's clothes, fall off the stool. Chihiro stares in disbelief. Are these two pigs her mother and father? Scared, she runs to the river, but finds it to be an ocean. Chihiro is now caught in a strange, fantasy land. And her goal is to save her parents and escape.

The remainder of the movie (and a lot there is!) shows how she gets a job, thus making her "safe" for the time being, how she makes friends, gains respect, causes fear, falls in love, and in the end, returns.

Spirited Away shows some incredible characters who change as the movie passes. Most noticably is Chihiro, who at the begining is a frightened, scared girl who would rather curl up and cry than face reality. As she in constantly bombarded with new and stranger creatures and situations you can see her put aside her fear and buckle down to do what she has to do. In a world where being human is practically a death sentance, she shows resilliance by surviving. She pushes toward her goal of saving her parents and escaping, yet she still heart to look around her and help those who are suffering. She sacrifices for other people, even when it means that she might never return to her old life. In the end she appears as old and wise, while still being the same physically.

Another chcaracter which seemed to change was Yubaba, the witch who runs the bath house. Yubaba, while perhaps not actually changing throught the movie, gets different sides shown of her, creating the illusion of change. Our first impression of her is Haku's description that she is the evil witch who runs the bath house who will turn Chihiro into an animal, like her parents, if she doesn't get a job. Soon after, in looking for that job, she comes face to face with Yubaba. After the demand for a job, Yubaba gets angery and tells her to shut up and leave, but Chihiro remains persistant. Yubaba's baby wakes up and starts screaming and breaking things. In this chaos Yubaba gives in and gives her a job to get her out of there. Later, we see how Yubaba runs the bath house and takes care of her customers, who are all spirits of some kind. When Chihiro takes care of a dificult customer, you see Yubaba, in gratitude, hug her. And so she becomes, in the this viewer's eye, a shrewd business woman and a mother. She never becomes kind, per se, but a lot of the evil seems to wash away.