After the break-up of their parents' marriage, the three Grace children, Jared his twin brother Simon, and their older sister Mallory, have moved out of New York City to the country with their mother into the rundown house owned by their Great Aunt Lucinda. The house has stood empty for years, ever since Lucinda was committed to a psychiatric institution, and nearly half of it is uninhabitable. Almost from the first moment they move in they discover that the house hides a mysterious and perilous secret.
The first sign of trouble is a mysterious knocking in the walls, that leads to the discovery of some creature's nest made up of odds and sods of junk that its obviously collected over a period of years. Somehow, even though they have barely been there a day, a medal Mallory received for fencing from her previous school has ended up in amongst the other items However, it's in their great, great Uncle Arthur Spiderwick's hidden study in the upper reaches of the house, and what he had secreted in a trunk in the attic, where the real mystery and danger lie.
In a secret compartment of the trunk in the attic, Jared discovers an old and tattered book, Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide To The Fantastical World Around You. While finding the book was amazing, and discovering that their great, great uncle had painted all the illustrations and hand written the text was pretty cool, it was the contents of the book that was truly astounding. The Field Guide was crammed with illustrations and descriptions of magical and mythical creatures that Arthur Spiderwick claimed to have observed in the woods surrounding the house.
Needless to say their initial reaction is one of disbelief, that is only dispelled by meeting one of the beings described in the book, Thimbletack the household brownie. Thimbletack is able to assure them that the entire contents of the book are true, but he also says that by searching out and finding the book they have put themselves in grave danger. It seems that many of the magical creatures don't think it's a good idea for humans to be in on the fact that they exist and will stop at nothing to get the book back. If that isn't it bad enough, it turns out the information in the book would allow a fiendish ogre, Mulgarath, to take over the world and eliminate all other species.
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