Charlotte's Web recap

Fern, a farm girl, saves the runt of a litter from slaughter and raises the piglet, Wilbur, until he is sold to her uncle Homer Zuckerman's barn. Lonely there, Wilbur befriends Charlotte, a wise grey spider who lives in the doorway. When Wilbur learns that the family plans to kill him for meat, Charlotte vows to save him. She spins words of praise into her web, 'SOME PIG,' 'TERRIFIC,' 'RADIANT,' and 'HUMBLE,' that convince the Zuckermans and the whole county that Wilbur is a miraculous animal. Wilbur becomes famous, is taken to the county fair, and wins a special prize that guarantees he will be allowed to live. At the fair Charlotte also lays her eggs in a silken sac, but the effort exhausts her and she is dying. Wilbur saves her egg sac by having Templeton the rat fetch it, and carries it home while Charlotte dies at the fairgrounds. In spring her babies hatch; three remain in the barn, and Wilbur always cherishes the memory of the friend who saved his life.

On the Arable farm, a girl named Fern saves the runt of a new litter of pigs from being killed, arguing that it is wrong to destroy him just for being small. She raises the piglet, whom she names Wilbur, feeding him from a bottle. When Wilbur grows too big to keep at home, he is sold to Fern's uncle, Homer Zuckerman, and moved to the barn on the neighboring farm, where Fern still comes to watch him. Wilbur enjoys barn life but is lonely and bored, and one day he squeezes out of his pen and briefly escapes before being coaxed back with a bucket of food. Aching for a real friend, he goes to sleep miserable, until a small voice in the dark promises to be his friend when morning comes.

In the morning Wilbur meets the owner of the voice: Charlotte, a grey spider who spins her web in the barn doorway. Though she catches and eats insects, which unsettles gentle Wilbur, the two become close friends. Barn life goes on around them, including a goose faithfully sitting on a clutch of eggs. Then an old sheep tells Wilbur a hard truth: the Zuckermans are fattening him up so they can slaughter him for meat come winter. Terrified of dying, Wilbur breaks down, and Charlotte comforts him and makes him a firm promise: she will find a way to save his life, though she does not yet know how she will do it.

To keep her promise, Charlotte hits on a plan to make people believe Wilbur is too remarkable to kill. Working through the night, she weaves words into her web above his pen. First the hired man Lurvy, then the astonished Zuckermans, read 'SOME PIG,' and news of the wonder spreads across the countryside as visitors come to gaze at the pig and the web. The barn animals meet to decide what Charlotte should write next, and Templeton the rat is sent to the dump to bring back printed scraps for ideas. Charlotte weaves 'TERRIFIC' into her web, and Wilbur's fame keeps growing. He does his best to behave as splendidly as his new reputation demands.

Wilbur's celebrity keeps rising as Charlotte spins another word, 'RADIANT,' and the pig tries to appear radiant for the crowds. The goose's eggs finally hatch into a brood of goslings, and one unhatched egg is left for Templeton to keep. As summer turns toward fall, the Zuckermans decide to enter Wilbur in the county fair, hoping he will take a prize. Charlotte, though she is beginning to tire, agrees to travel along to keep helping him. Templeton is talked into coming too by the promise of feasting on the fair's scraps, and the animals prepare for the big trip to the fairgrounds.

At the county fair, Wilbur is penned near a much larger pig named Uncle, a rival for the top prize. Charlotte, growing weak, spins her finest web above Wilbur and writes 'HUMBLE,' and she also quietly builds a small silken sac into which she lays hundreds of eggs. Templeton, gorging himself on fair food, is sent out once more to fetch a word for her. When the judging comes, the bigger pig wins the blue ribbon, but Wilbur and his miraculous web have drawn such a crowd that the fair awards him a special prize of his own. He is paraded and honored, which delights the Zuckermans and, most importantly of all, means that Wilbur's life is now safe.

As the fair ends, Charlotte, too weak to travel, prepares to stay behind and die, her egg sac full of the children she will never see. Wilbur cannot bear to leave her eggs, so he persuades Templeton to climb up and retrieve the sac, promising the rat first choice of his food from then on. Wilbur carries the precious egg sac home in his mouth, and Charlotte dies alone at the deserted fairgrounds, her great work done. Back in the barn, Wilbur guards the sac tenderly through the winter. When spring arrives, hundreds of baby spiders hatch, and most drift away on threads of silk to make their own lives elsewhere. Three of Charlotte's daughters choose to stay in the barn doorway and become Wilbur's friends. Season after season new spiders live there, and though none can ever replace her, Wilbur never forgets Charlotte, the true friend who saved his life.

Charlotte's plan succeeds completely. Her words woven into the web make Wilbur so famous that the Zuckermans take him to the county fair, where he wins a special award that secures his future for good, so he will never be slaughtered. But saving Wilbur is Charlotte's last work. At the fair she spins one final web reading 'HUMBLE' and builds an egg sac holding hundreds of eggs, and the effort drains the last of her strength. Too weak to return home, she stays behind. Wilbur, unwilling to abandon her unborn children, persuades the rat Templeton to fetch the egg sac down for him, and carries it home in his mouth. Charlotte dies alone at the empty fairgrounds. Through the winter Wilbur faithfully guards the sac, and in spring the young spiders hatch. Most float away on strands of silk to find homes of their own, but three of Charlotte's daughters settle in the barn doorway and become Wilbur's friends. The barn's life goes on through the seasons, with new generations of spiders each year, and Wilbur, safe and no longer alone, never forgets Charlotte and all she did for him.