In Boston, Emma Swan is celebrating her birthday alone when someone knocks on her door—her son, Henry. She gave Henry up for adoption when he was just a baby and hasn’t seen him since. He says he now lives in a town in Maine called Storybrooke, and that he needs her help to save everyone there. He tells her how The Evil Queen from Fairy Tale Land cast a terrible Curse that transported everyone to Storybrooke and trapped them there with no memory of who they really are, and according to his book of fairy tales, she’s the only one who can save them. Emma doesn’t believe a word of it, but she feels drawn to Henry and takes him back to Storybrooke. There she meets Regina, Henry’s adoptive mother—and The Evil Queen!—and the two of them are at-odds immediately. Emma decides she owes it to Henry, and maybe herself, to stay in town for a little while and make sure Henry is really okay. At that exact moment of decision, the Storybrooke clock tower—forever stuck at 8:15 p.m.—ticks forward and things finally begin to change for the first time ever. The Curse is weakening.