In some town that's definitely not Munich, Germany, school's out for the day. A mass of schoolchildren head for their favorite sweet shop. The shopkeeper, Bill, hands out their requests and then unveils the latest creation by the local chocolate master, Willy Wonka: a Scrumdiddlyumptious Bar. One of the boys asks how he comes up with such wonderful treats. Bill explains he does it because he was born to do it. Cue a song and dance number describing the magic of the Candy Man.
Outside, we're introduced to young Charlie Bucket, looking into the shop and watching the other kids enjoying sweets. He's from a poor family and cannot afford such luxuries. He then goes to the newspaper stand where he's working to support his family, accepting his first payday.
On his way through town, he passes the gates of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. It's locked, as always. No one can be seen inside or anywhere within the grounds. At that point, a mysterious tinker passes by and recites the first lines of William Allingham’s poem "The Fairies". "Nobody ever goes in. Nobody ever comes out," he says. Charlie immediately makes a run for home.
We're then introduced to the rest of the Bucket family: his mother and four grandparents, Joe, Josephine, George, and Georgina. The latter four are so old that they've not been out of bed in twenty years, and his father has been dead for some time. Grandpa Joe promises to get out of bed and help support the family once he gets his strength back, but Mrs. Bucket points out how often he's said this, yet hasn't set foot on the floor. "Maybe if the floor wasn't so cold," he replies.
Charlie finally returns home and greets his family. Looking at Joe's dinner of cabbage water, their regular meal, he presents a loaf of bread he bought with his first payday money. Along with giving his mother the change, Charlie promises to pay for Joe's tobacco habit, to which the latter promises to give it up so they'll have extra money. Despite this, Charlie gives him the money.
In the middle of the night, Charlie tells Grandpa Joe about the strange man he saw outside of Wonka's and what he said: "Nobody ever goes in, and nobody ever comes out." Joe explains that that's been the way ever since Wonka closed the factory. His candy rivals, especially the despicable Mr. Slugworth, had sent spies to steal all his secret recipes. To curb this industrial espionage, Wonka fired his workers, locked the gates, and disappeared. But three years later, the factory started working again and more delicious treats came out than ever before, but the gates were still closed. A workforce of thousands are obviously helping him run the factory, but who are they? No one knows.
In school, Charlie is picked by his teacher, Mr. Turkentine, for a little chemistry demonstration. After handling nitric acid, glycerine, and an unknown third substance (the teacher's special blend) without aprons, gloves, or goggles, there's a commotion in the hallway. One of the students says that Wonka is opening his factory and giving away truckloads of chocolate... for five people. Nevertheless, Turkentine dismisses the class.
The news then provides the full details of the announcement. Wonka has hidden five Golden Tickets inside his chocolate bars. The five lucky people who find them will win a lifetime supply of chocolate and a personal tour of his factory. Grandpa Joe and Charlie are excited at this. All around the world, "Wonka-Mania" takes hold from Tokyo to the White House, as mobs of customers struggle to buy the rapidly dwindling supply of Wonka Bars.
The very next day, the first ticket is found. The lucky winner is a fat boy named Augustus Gloop, the son of a Bavarian butcher. He remarks that supplying him alone will "cost Wonka a fortune in fudge." As his mother takes the spotlight for the television interview, commenting how "eating is his hobby," a bespectacled waiter starts piling sausages onto Augustus' plate and whispers something into his ear...
At the Buckets' shack, it's Charlie's birthday. His simple gifts consist of a hand-knitted scarf from the women and, his most-prized gift, a Wonka bar from the men. Grandpa Joe playfully says the ticket is in there and asks him to open it. Because Charlie wants it more than anyone, it must be in there. Charlie opens the wrapper and... finds just a fudge brownie. The Buckets share his disappointment, but decline a piece of the chocolate.
Cut to another factory, where workers are busy unwrapping Wonka bars by the boxload. "I wanted to be the FIRST to find a Golden Ticket, daddy!" are the first words we hear as we're introduced to Veruca Salt, a spoiled British girl who's gotten her father to convert his factory from shelling peanuts to "shelling" chocolate bars. They've already shelled three-quarters of a million Wonkas in Mr. Salt's unending quest to please his daughter. After threatening to stop going to school until she's gotten it, one of the workers announces her find. Veruca eagerly shows off "her" Golden Ticket, and is then taken aside by the same bespectacled man from earlier, who also starts whispering into her ear...
Over a month passes without another find. By now, the supply of Wonka bars has failed to meet the demand. Candy shops everywhere post signs indicating that they don't have any stock, and shipments can't be made fast enough. During this, a computer scientist shows off to his investors a machine that he's programmed to find the remaining Golden Tickets. However, the apparent sentience of the computer has a moral side, as it refuses to find them because that's cheating. His offers of sharing the grand prize results in the answer "What would a computer do with a lifetime supply of chocolate?" The investors are less than amused.
Finally, the third ticket is found. America is finally on the map as the lucky winner is one Violet Beauregarde from Montana. Her interview is intially dominated by her father, a used-car salesman who immediately tries to plug his lot. She recounts how she's a gum-chewer with a world record to her name. Hearing about the contest made her switch to candy bars, making her the first winner who actually went out and sought the tickets. As her father once again tries to get some free advertising, someone cleaning the windows on the lot is revealed to be, you guessed it, the bespectacled man who met the other winners. While attention is focused on Mr. Beauregarde, the strange man starts to whisper the same message to Violet...
That night, Charlie goes to see his mother at the washing shop where she works. He tells her about the third Golden Ticket, trying to hide his disappointment that they're quickly disappearing. She reassures him that there's nothing wrong with the fact that, once the contest is over, he'll be no different than the other three billion people who didn't find one. Soon after, the fourth Golden Ticket is indeed found, by an Arizona boy named Mike Teevee. He's completely uninterested in an interview and only wants to watch TV. The only time he's actually distracted is when, you guessed it, the bespectacled man leans over and starts whispering something...
Late at night, Grandpa Joe calls Charlie to his bed for a surprise: a Wonka bar, that was bought with his tobacco money. There's only one ticket left, and this has as much chance as any to have it. They playfully open it, little by little, and it contains... an ordinary chocolate bar. In a raised whisper, Charlie wonders if the Golden Tickets actually make the chocolate taste terrible. Wonka-Mania soon enters its last legs as a British auction house has a bidding on the last case of Wonka bars in the country. Elsewhere, a woman's rich husband is kidnapped, and the ransom is her Wonka case. Soon, an announcement is made that the last ticket has been found, by a casino magnate in South America. Mrs. Bucket and Grandpa Joe discuss how Charlie will be heartbroken, unaware that he's awake and has overheard this.
As the world returns to normal, Charlie remains despondent. One day while walking home from school, Charlie spots some money lying on the street, still in usable condition. Stopping by Bill's candy store, Charlie buys some Wonka chocolate, including a Wonka Bar. Passing by the newsstand, he overhears people talking; the South American faked his ticket! With a surge of hope, Charlie opens his Wonka Bar...
...A Golden Ticket!
It doesn't take long for people to spot this, and everyone crowds around Charlie. Charlie's boss from the newsstand rescues him from the mob, and Charlie takes off for home to share the good news. Before he can make it, the bespectacled man appears before him. He introduces himself as Mr. Slugworth, Wonka's arch-rival in candy. He has been promising riches to each of the Ticket winners if they can sell him the secrets Wonka will share with them, particularly on his upcoming invention, the Everlasting Gobstopper. With his offer made, Slugworth allows Charlie to return home. Hearing of Charlie's success inspires Grandpa Joe to force himself out of bed, and the Cool Old Guy launches into a song and dance to celebrate. In secret, however, Charlie confides in Joe his encounter with Slugworth.
The next day, crowds of people gather at the gates of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory; Reporters, bands, the ticket winners and their chosen companions- Augustus and Mrs. Gloop, Veruca and Mr. Salt, Violet and Mr. Beauregard, Mike and Mrs. Teevee, and Charlie and Grandpa Joe- and Mr. Slugworth, wait for Willy Wonka to appear. At the scheduled time, the door opens and out comes Mr. Wonka, dressed in a purple coat and brown top hat. He seems sullen and unenergetic, hobbling out on a cane. As he reaches the gates, Wonka loses his cane, falls... and tumbles into a somersault! With more cheer and energy, Wonka welcomes the children and their families into his factory. As the guests enter, Charlie spots Slugworth in the crowd.
Inside the factory lobby, the guests are given a glimpse at how... different, Wonka's workshop is. Hand-shaped coat hangers that grab articles of clothing, and a legal waiver written in increasingly tiny ink to start with. Wonka has the children sign the waiver before moving on, and takes them through a pair of rooms. The first seemingly has no exit, but when the entrance opens again, it leads to a different room, one built to make everyone in it look like giants. Wonka introduces his visitors to the first stop on the tour, what he calls the factory's nerve center. A place where everything in it is eatable, er, edible.
The tour enters the Chocolate Room, a beautiful garden of candy delights. Attention is drawn to the chocolate river that mixes all of Wonka's chocolate through its waterfalls, and to the orange-skinned, green-haired midgets adding cream and sugar. These are the Oompa-Loompas, Wonka's mysterious workforce. Wonka gave them jobs at his factory as an alternative to living in the monster-infested Loompaland. As this exposition is delivered, Augustus has gotten to the riverbank to drink its chocolate. He then falls in, and before anyone can pull him out, Augustus is sunked into a drain pipe to another part of the factory. As Mrs. Gloop is taken to the pipe's destination to retrieve Augustus, the remaining Oompa-Loompas sing a song about the sin of gluttony.
Wonka has the tour board a paddleboat in the river, and after a tunnel full of Nightmare Fuel, takes them to the next stop: der Inventing Room, where Wonka's new machines and formulas are developed. After making the children promise not to reveal what they see to anyone, Wonka takes the tour inside. The guests mull about the apparently disorganized assortment of bizarre contraptions, until someone tries to peek under a curtain. Wonka refuses to let them see it, but does show what it makes: Everlasting Gobstoppers. The idea is that you can suck them forever and they'll never shrink. While the formula is unfinished, Wonka lets each child have a Gobstopper. Another machine is discovered, one that produces a very special type of chewing gum; As you chew it, it'll taste like a three-course meal. Gum-enthusiast Violet eagerly snatches it for her own test, in spite of Wonka warning her not to. At first, she's thrilled at what her taste buds are feeling, but once she reaches dessert, blueberry pie, something goes horribly wrong. Violet's skin turns blue ("Violet, you're turning violet, Violet!") and she starts to bloat up into a ball. As Wonka explains, so far the gum always makes its chewer become blueberries. He calls for the Oompa-Loompas to have Violet juiced before she bursts, and they sing a song against gum-chewing before taking the Beauregardes away.
The tour moves on, and after a brief stop to check edible wallpaper, soon they reach a room full of bottles and bubbles. It's Fizzy-Lifting Drink, a soda pop that makes its drinker float into the air. Wonka refuses to give anyone a taste, but as they group moves forward, Charlie and Grandpa Joe decide to sneak some. They do indeed float into the air, but nearly get killed by the fan at the ceiling. Only by burping do they come down, and the Buckets quickly rush to catch up with the rest of the tour.
Wonka reveals that he has giant geese laying chocolate Easter Eggs (he's trying to get ahead for next year). When a goose lays an egg, it lands in an "egg checker" underneath- Should the egg be bad, a trap door opens and dumps it. Veruca instantly demands a goose of her own, and when Wonka refuses, sings a song extolling how much she wants and at the end sits on an egg checker. Since she's a "bad egg" the trap door opens and she falls down the chute, with Mr. Salt following when he checks to see if she's all right. The Oompa-Loompas, once more, sing a song about bratty kids and the parents that spoil them.
Down to two families, Wonka takes the Buckets and Teevees on a soda-powered car that spews huge amounts of foam all over them, which are instantly removed when they go through the Hsawaknow ("Wonkawash" spelled backwards). Their next destination is where Wonka is testing his latest invention- Wonka-vision. While television is projecting an image to a screen, Wonka wants to try sending a chocolate bar, which viewers can reach through the screen and try out. And since everything on a TV set looks smaller, the projected bars of chocolate have to much larger for scale. TV-obsessed Mike gleefully hijacks the equipment for his own use, and thankfully comes out whole...just the size of a doll. Wonka has the Teevees sent to the taffy room for Mike to be stretched out (to which Mrs. Teevee faints upon hearing), and the Oompa-Loompas sing one more song against television-watching.
And... that's it, apparently. Wonka retreats to an office where everything is cut in half to do some paperwork. Grandpa Joe awkwardly asks when he and Charlie will get their lifetime supply of chocolate, leading Wonka to point out that since they stole a taste of Fizzy-Lifting Drink, they have voided their right to the prize, becoming ferociously angry at them for doing so, practically spitting with anger. Enraged that Wonka would use a loophole like that to cheat them, Joe decides that he and Charlie will take Slugworth up on his offer, and give Wonka's rival anything he wants. Charlie, however, sad that he broke Mr. Wonka's trust, returns his Everlasting Gobstopper.
Upon seeing this, Wonka changes his tune, and apologizes for his previous words. He has a few more surprises to show, and one of them is...Slugworth?! Actually, the man's name is Wilkinson, and he works for Wonka. He posed as Slugworth to issue false bribes, testing their honesty and integrity. Wonka takes the Buckets to his Great Glass Wonka-vator, explaining that while normal elevators only go up and down, the Wonka-vator can go any direction you'd like. He tells Charlie to push a red button, and in doing so causes the Wonka-vator to fly out of the factory into the sky. As they enjoy the view, Wonka reveals that he is giving the factory to Charlie; since he will one day die, Wonka wanted to find someone he could leave the factory to and trust with his secrets. The entire contest and tour was a plan to find a successor, and he's found it in Charlie Bucket. The Buckets can live in the Factory as their new home, and Wonka gives his new heir this advice:
"What happened?"
"He lived happily ever after."
