A young girl discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw, she traverses dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again.
Slumberland takes audiences to a magical new place, a dreamworld where precocious Nemo (Marlow Barkley) and her eccentric companion Flip (Jason Momoa) embark on the adventure of a lifetime. After her father Peter (Kyle Chandler) is unexpectedly lost at sea, young Nemo's idyllic Pacific Northwest existence is completely upended when she is sent to live in the city with her well-meaning but deeply awkward uncle Phillip (Chris O'Dowd). Her new school and new routine are challenging by day but at night, a secret map to the fantastical world of Slumberland connects Nemo to Flip, a rough-around-the-edges but lovable outlaw who quickly becomes her partner and guide. She and Flip soon find themselves on an incredible journey traversing dreams and fleeing nightmares, where Nemo begins to hope that she will be reunited with her father once again.—Netflix
Nemo (Marlow Barkley) is a young girl who lives in a lighthouse with her father Peter (Kyle Chandler) ever since her mom died when she was young. Peter teaches Nemo how to maintain the lighthouse and tells her wild bedtime stories about his adventures with a character named Flip and one of their adventures involve the searching for a cave of magical wish-granting pearls, the sea of nightmares, the most dangerous waters known to man.
One day, a storm occurs and Peter heads out to help a distressed boat. Nemo has a nightmare of her underwater as Peter is snatched by a squid-like shape. After Nemo wakes up from her nightmare, Carla (Yanna McIntosh) informs Nemo that her father is now lost at sea. As a result, Carla contacts Nemo's doorknob salesman uncle Philip (Chris O'Dowd) and persuades him to take Nemo in before she becomes a ward of the state. Philip is shown to lead a monotonous and unfulfilled life.
Nemo is awakened one night when her stuffed pig (named Pig) comes to life, finding herself in Slumberland, the world between dreams. She is carried back to the lighthouse by her animated bed, where she meets Flip (Jason Momoa), a stubborn and unscrupulous outlaw (a con artist with sharp teeth and the ears and horns of a goat who becomes Nemo's companion and was a former friend of Nemo's father Peter). Nemo recognizes Flip as the character from the stories her father told. He asks Nemo about a magical map (which has the picture of an oyster and a pearl on it), but she is unaware of it. Flip knows that Nemo wants to see Peter again and says he will arrange that if she brings back the map. With no use for Nemo, Flip pushes her off a cliff to wake her up.
Awake, Nemo struggles to adjust to her new life and is an outcast at school as she meets school counselor Ms. Arya (India De Beaufort) and a student named Jamal (Ali Asghar Shah). Arya tells Philip to connect with Nemo and he tries hard. He even teaches her how to pick locks.Nemo then finds the map in the waking world (it was hidden on the back of a painting in Nemo's belongings that were sent from the lighthouse) and manages to take it back to Slumberland (she marks herself as on a trip on the school app for a few days, without telling Philip (whom she tells that she is spending the next few days at school) and goes to sleep in a hammock hung deep inside the school's steam rooms), where Flip begrudgingly agrees to take her with him to the pearls so she can wish her father into her dreams. This is dangerous as they have to travel through other people's dreams. If you die in your own dream, you wake up. If you die in someone else's dream, you don't wake up, ever.There are secret doors connecting dreams to each other and the map helps you navigate through them to get to the sea of nightmares, where the pearls are.
Flip tells Nemo that he has refused to wake up for so long he no longer remembers who he was when awake. He uses the map as a guide through various dreams to get to the cave. They travel through multiple dreams of different people and are attacked by a cloud of smoke resembling a Kraken, a personification of the nightmare of Nemo's father being taken by the same creature. Flip says that nightmares can smell the fear and they chase you through dreams until they get you.
The duo also find themselves being chased down by Agent Green (Weruche Opia) of the Bureau of Subconscious Activities (BoSA), who wants to imprison Flip for never waking up and intruding dreams. They use more dreams to flee Green but are eventually caught and locked up. Green locks Flip up and warns Nemo that she cannot control her dreams (as those are controlled by BOSA, and they give her she needs and not what she wants) (Green says if Nemo doesn't learn to let go, then the nightmares will catch up with her and destroy her. She has to move on to other things in life) (She also says that the magic pearls are a myth, there is no such thing) before waking her up.
In the waking world, Philip shows Nemo an old video tape of him and Peter as children playing together. Nemo realizes that Flip is Philip's dream alter-ego. Philip was a shy introverted kid and Peter was his only friend. Philip invented Flip as his alter-ego as he could be who-ever he wanted in Slumberland. when Peter went ahead and got married, Philip got left behind and even lonelier than before.As Flip has not woken up, Philip remains docile and unadventurous in the waking world. Nemo borrows Philip's lock-picking tools and goes to Slumberland to rescue Flip from the BoSA. The two use more dreams to flee Green, finding their way back to the lighthouse. Nemo tells Flip who he is, and he rebukes this (as he doesn't want to be the doorknob seller), stating that he will never wake up. Before she can dive into the ocean to find the pearls, Nemo is awakened and torn out of Slumberland by Ms. Arya. When Philip is called in, Ms. Arya reports on Nemo's progress in school. This leads to an argument between Nemo and Philip.
That night, Nemo sneaks out of Philip's apartment and sails through rough water back to the lighthouse in the waking world. She hits her head and passes out in the boat, sending her back into Slumberland. In the Sea of Nightmares, Nemo acquires a wishing pearl, but is chased by the nightmare. Flip arrives to save her in an airplane, and they crash their way through the various dreams from earlier which also awakens their inhabitants. In the waking world, Nemo slips off the small sailboat and into the water. Philip arranges a rescue boat manned by Carla and two co-workers and heads towards the lighthouse, terrified by the storm. The nightmare grabs Flip and Nemo uses her wish to force Flip to wake up. In the waking world, Philip is emboldened and dives into the water to rescue Nemo, who is unconscious.
In Slumberland, Green finds Nemo and commends her on using her wish to save Flip. Green gives Nemo another pearl which she uses to see her father again. Peter appears and the two spend some quality time together before he tells Nemo he is proud of her, and that life is waiting for her in the waking world. Nemo says goodbye to her father and wakes up, where Phillip embraces her, now embedded with the personality of Flip.
Nemo begins to improve her life in the waking world, making friends at school and repairing her relationship with her uncle as they make use of one of Peter's boats for sailing.
