On Christmas Eve, young Marie receives a curious wooden nutcracker from her enigmatic godfather Drosselmeier. As midnight strikes, the toys come alive, a seven-headed Mouse King rises from beneath the floorboards, and Marie is swept into a dreamlike battle - and a darker tale of an enchanted prince and an ancient curse. E.T.A. Hoffmann's 1816 classic is the strange, shadowy original behind Tchaikovsky's beloved ballet: stranger, sharper, and far more haunting than you remember.