This is the story of James Henry Trotter, a lonely orphan sent to live with his horribly wicked and greedy Aunts Spiker (Joanna Lumley) and Sponge (Miriam Margoyles). When James meets a strange old man who promises that marvelous things will happen, indeed they do. Escaping his aunts by climbing inside a giant peach that mysteriously and suddenly grows on their barren tree, he meets some very unusual new friends and as they break free in the peach from Spiker and Sponge, they embark on a series of wildly imaginative adventures.