The story begins in London during the summer of 1900.

Two children, Digory and Polly, meet while

playing in the adjacent gardens of a row of terraced houses. They decide to explore the attic
connecting the houses, but take the wrong door and surprise Digory's Uncle Andrew in his study.
Uncle Andrew tricks Polly into touching a yellow magic ring, causing her to vanish. Then he explains
to Digory that he has been dabbling in magic, and that the rings allow travel between one world and
another. He blackmails Digory into taking another yellow ring to follow wherever Polly has gone, and
two green rings so that they both can return.
Digory finds himself transported to a sleepy woodland with an almost narcotic effect; he finds Polly
nearby. The woodland is filled with pools. Digory and Polly surmise that the wood is not really a
proper world at all but a "Wood between the Worlds", similar to the attic that links their rowhouses
back in England, and that each pool leads to a separate universe. They decide to explore a different
world before returning to England, and jump into one of the nearby pools. They then find themselves
in a desolate abandoned city of the ancient world of Charn. Inside the ruined palace, they discover
statues of Charn's former kings and queens, which degenerate from the fair and wise to the unhappy
and cruel. They find a bell with a hammer, an inscription inviting the finder to strike the bell.
Despite protests from Polly, Digory rings the bell. This awakens the last of the statues, a witch queen
named Jadis, who, to avoid defeat in battle, had deliberately killed every living thing in Charn by
speaking the "Deplorable Word". As the only survivor left in her world, she placed herself in an
enchanted sleep that would only be broken by someone ringing the bell.
The children realize Jadis' evil nature and attempt to flee, but she follows them back to England by
clinging to them as they clutch their rings. In England, she discovers that her magical powers do not
work, although she retains her superhuman strength. Dismissing Uncle Andrew as a poor magician,
she enslaves him and orders him to fetch her a "chariot"—a hansom cab—so she can set about
conquering Earth. They leave, and she attracts attention by robbing a jewellery store. The police
chase after her cab, until she crashes at the foot of the Kirke house. Jadis breaks off and brandishes
an iron rod from a nearby lamp-post to fight off police and onlookers.
Polly and Digory grab her and put on their rings to take her out of their world--dragging with them
Uncle Andrew, Frank the cab-driver, and Frank's horse, Strawberry, since all were touching one
another when the children grabbed their rings. In the Wood between the Worlds, Strawberry, looking
to drink from one of the ponds, accidentally brings everyone into another world: a dark, empty void.
At first, Digory believes it to be Charn, but Jadis recognises it as a world not yet created. They then
all witness the creation of a new world by the lion Aslan, who brings stars, plants, and animals into
existence as he sings. Jadis, as terrified by his singing as the others are attracted to it, tries to kill
Aslan with the iron rod; but it rebounds harmlessly off him, and in the creative soil of the new world it
sprouts into a growing lamp-post. Jadis flees.
Aslan gives some animals the power of speech, commanding them to use it for justice and
merriment. Aslan confronts Digory with his responsibility for bringing Jadis into his young world, and
tells Digory he must atone by helping to protect the new land of Narnia from her evil. Aslan
transforms the cabbie's horse into a winged horse named Fledge, and Digory and Polly fly on him to
a distant garden high in the mountains. Digory's task is to take an apple from a tree in this garden
and plant it in Narnia. At the garden Digory finds a sign warning not to steal from the garden.
Digory picks one of the apples for his mission, but their overpowering smell tempts him. Jadis
appears, having herself eaten an apple to become immortal; she tempts Digory either to eat an
apple himself and join her in immortality, or steal one to take back to Earth to heal his dying mother.
Digory resists, knowing his mother would never condone theft, but hesitates. He sees through the
Witch's ploy when she suggests he leave Polly behind—not knowing Polly can get away by her own
ring. Foiled, the Witch departs for the North. Digory returns to Narnia and plants the apple, which
grows into a mature tree behind them while the coronation proceeds. Aslan tells Digory how the tree
works: anyone who steals the apples gets their heart's desire, but in a form that makes it unlikeable.
In the Witch's case, she has achieved immortality, but it only means eternal misery because of her
evil heart. Moreover, the magic apples are now a horror to her, such that the apple tree will repel her
for centuries to come. With Aslan's permission, Digory then takes an apple from the new tree to heal
his mother. Aslan returns Digory, Polly, and Uncle Andrew to England; Frank and his wife, Helen
(transported from England by Aslan) stay to rule Narnia as its first King and Queen.
Digory's apple restores his mother's health, and he and Polly remain lifelong friends. Uncle Andrew
reforms and gives up magic, but still enjoys bragging about his adventures with the Witch. Digory
plants the apple's core with Uncle Andrew's rings in the back yard of his aunt's home in London, and
it grows into a large tree. Years later, Digory's family inherit a mansion in the country, and the apple
tree blows down in a storm. Digory has its wood made into a wardrobe, setting up the events in The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.