The Author proves to be a formidable wild card and forges an alliance with Gold. Emma, her parents, Hook and Regina scramble to stop them, but when Gold and the Author turn the tables on heroes and villains alike, the prospect of any happy outcome appears worlds away. Henry discovers he has big shoes to fill as he steps up to save his family before the story’s final page is turned. It’s a race to the finish, and everything culminates with a shocking twist that will leave the residents of Storybrooke reeling.

Emma returns to Storybrooke to reunite Lily with Maleficent while Regina and Robin struggle to cope with the implications of Zelena’s pregnancy. When Gold’s health takes a turn for the worse, Isaac looks to a new ally for help procuring the magic ink he needs to re-write history. In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Cora returns from Wonderland to beg Regina’s forgiveness on the anniversary of Daniel’s murder. Cora vows to help her daughter find true love, but Regina remains suspicious of her mother’s intentions.

Emma’s potential for darkness is looming over everyone, but when Emma realizes Maleficent’s daughter Lily is in fact her closest friend from her foster care days, she resolves to find Lily and reunite her with her mother. Regina joins forces with Emma and together they set out to track down Lily and to warn Robin about Zelena. However, neither of them is prepared for the harsh realities they’ll encounter in the outside world. Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, Gold faces a crisis involving Belle. In a foster care flashback, things are looking up for young Emma with her new family until Lily’s appearance threatens to destabilize everything.

In fictional 1920s England, viewers meet a young Cruella, whose oppressive mother uses her Dalmatians to terrorize her daughter. Cruella is confined to her mother’s attic until a mysterious stranger arrives and empowers her to challenge her captor. In Storybrooke, Regina gains leverage to keep Gold from interfering with her plan to rescue Robin, but her trip to New York takes the backseat when she and Emma learn that Cruella has kidnapped Henry.

Emma is still reeling after learning the truth of her parents’ history with Maleficent, but she must focus on finding the Author, who is running loose in Storybrooke, before Gold does. When Gold’s quest for his happy ending grows more urgent, he blackmails Regina into helping him. In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Robin Hood learns what it means to be an honorable thief when he accepts a proposition by Rumpelstiltskin to travel to Oz to steal a valuable magic elixir from the Wicked Witch.

Hook tells Emma that her fate is at stake in Gold’s plan while Regina leads the villains on a wild goose chase. Henry makes a breakthrough in his search to find the Author, but Mary Margaret and David need a moment to reconsider the best course of action. In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Snow and Charming search for a way to ensure their child will grow-up to be a hero. When a traveling peddler directs them to visit a kindly old hermit, Snow and Charming are presented with a choice that could secure their child’s goodness, but at a price that will haunt them for years to come.

Hook leverages his complicated history with Ursula to find out what she knows about Gold’s endgame. Gold and the Queens of Darkness torture August for information about the Author as Emma, Mary Margaret and David race to find them. Regina grows concerned for Robin Hood’s safety while she struggles to maintain her cover with the villains. In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, when a restless young Ursula enlists Hook’s help to run away from home, she soon learns it isn’t wise to trust a pirate.

In order to infiltrate the Queens of Darkness as a spy for the heroes, Regina must prove she’s still willing to get her hands dirty. Meanwhile, Emma, David and Mary Margaret scramble to keep tabs on their undercover operative. Hook requests an unusual favor from Belle as Henry makes progress on his search for the Author. In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Regina befriends Maleficent and helps her to rekindle her lost spark.

David and Mary Margaret suspect Cruella and Ursula have come to Storybrooke looking for something more than their own happy endings – something that threatens to reveal a secret they thought was long buried. Emma begins her own investigation of Cruella and Ursula, but she can’t shake the feeling that her friends and family are keeping something from her. Regina and Henry continue their search for the Author, turning to Pinocchio and Marco in the hope Pinocchio might remember a clue that will help them. Meanwhile, in a flashback to Fairy Tale Land, Snow and Charming cross paths with the Queens of Darkness as the threat of the Evil Queen’s Dark Curse hangs over all of them.

With Gold banished from town, the residents of Storybrooke attempt to resume their normal lives. Hook and Belle search for a way to release the fairies from the Sorcerer’s hat, while Emma, Henry and Regina continue to look for clues that could lead them to the Author. But when a terrifying darkness descends on the town, Emma and Regina are forced to confront the true nature of evil. Meanwhile, in New York, Gold and Ursula enlist Cruella De Vil to join their cause.

In the aftermath of the Snow Queen’s spell, our heroes try to pick up the pieces and Regina has to make a difficult choice. Hook’s fate hangs in the balance as Gold’s quest for power threatens everything he holds dear. And, in the Enchanted Forest flashback, an intrusion during Belle’s stay at Rumplestiltskin’s dark castle will wreak havoc in both the past and the future.

As Storybrooke descends into chaos as the Snow Queen’s spell takes hold, Emma and Elsa try to trick Regina into destroying the ribbons so that they can attack the Queen. In the past, Ingrid adopts Emma and attempts to show the girl that she’s a powerful sorceress.

The Snow Queen attempts to pit Anna and Elsa against each other; with her powers out of control, Emma seeks assistance from Gold; Regina’s quest takes a surprising turn.

Emma’s powers run amok and she turns to Gold for help, Elsa and Anna’s relationship is tested, and the Snow Queen’s agenda is revealed.

Emma’s powers run amok and she turns to Gold for help, Elsa and Anna’s relationship is tested, and the Snow Queen’s agenda is revealed.

Emma captures the Snow Queen and learns that they are more alike then she can possibly imagine. In arendelle of the past, Ingrid discovers her deadly ice powers and makes a pact with her two sisters to protect and always be there for one another – no matter what.

The race is on to track down the elusive Snow Queen in order to discover what her ultimate end game is for Elsa and the residents of Storybrooke. Unaware that she does not possess the real blade that controls The Dark One, Belle attempts to use it to get her reluctant husband to show her where the Snow Queen is hiding. Belle travels to Arendelle and, with Anna’s help, seeks out Grand Pabbie to help her regain her lost memories in order to discover the fate of her mother.

Emma tries to convince a reluctant Regina to help her find the Snow Queen, only to discover that Regina is lying to her about Sidney’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, David convinces Mary Margaret to go on a date, but the date turns into a hunt when Will escapes his jail cell. In the past, Emma befriends another young orphan who isn’t all that she seems.

Hook discovers that magic always comes with a price after he makes a deal with Mr. Gold to re-attach his hand so that he can embrace Emma with both hands on their first real date. And back in the fairy tale land of the past, Rumplestiltskin uses Anna to help him acquire a magical box from the sorcerer’s apprentice.

Marian falls under a freezing curse and the townspeople believe that Elsa is responsible. When Emma and David go to Robin’s camp to look for clues, they find Will Scarlet, who leads them to the culprit. Meanwhile, in the Arendelle of the past, Elsa and Kristoff go to find the urn that Hans plans to use to imprison Elsa, and encounter the Snow Queen.

While desperately trying to find her sister Anna, Elsa accidentally traps them both inside an ice cave. Regina secludes herself from the town and Henry. With the townspeople considering Mary Margaret their leader, she faces her first leadership task in trying to re-start a generator and restore the town’s electricity after Elsa freezes and damages the power lines. Anna tries to teach a meek David to fight Bo Peep.

A scared and confused Elsa from Arendelle finds herself in Storybrooke and creates a powerful snow monster for protection. Regina wonders if her relationship with Robin Hood has been completely quashed now that Marian’s back in the picture. Elsa’s sister wants to complete their parent’s fateful journey and discover if their quest may have held the secret to containing Elsa’s out of control ice powers.

Hook and Emma try to find their way back to the present and correct the mistakes they made in the past.

While Mary Margaret and David celebrate the naming of their son at a coronation in Granny’s Diner, Emma and Hook are pulled into Zelena’s time portal and find themselves in the Enchanted Forest of the past. But in their quest to discover a way back, they must be careful not to change anything or risk altering the lives of their friends and family – as well as their very own existence.

With Mary Margaret in labor and due to give birth at any moment, the residents of Storybrooke go on high alert in an attempt to ensure that Zelena doesn’t try to steal her newborn baby for use in her ultimate game plan to turn back time and change her destiny — while obliterating Regina’s existence. Meanwhile, in the land of Oz of the past, Glinda tries to convince Zelena to fight her evil tendencies and join her and her sister witches as a protector of Oz. But the appearance of a young girl from Kansas could turn out to be her undoing.

Zelena threatens to kill Henry if Hook – whose lips have been cursed by the Wicked Witch — doesn’t proceed with kissing Emma, which will drain all of her magical powers away, and things begin to heat up between Regina and Robin Hood. Meanwhile, back in the Fairy Tale Land that was during the past year, Snow and Charming go in search of Glinda, The Good Witch of the South, to see if she can help them defeat Zelena, and the curse that will ultimately send the Fairy Tale characters back to Storybrooke is cast — but from an unlikely source.

After Zelena steals Regina’s heart, Regina casts a spell so that she can speak across the realms to her dead mother, Cora, to discover the truth about why she abandoned Zelena, and Belle stumbles across what Zelena’s ultimate end game is. Meanwhile, in the Fairy Tale Land that was, young Cora is duped by a man claiming to be a prince and finds herself alone and pregnant. But a chance meeting with a real prince could lead Cora to the royal life she’s always craved, but she must keep her pregnancy a secret or risk losing everything.

Ariel returns to Storybrooke and pleads with Hook to help her find Prince Eric, who never returned to the town when the new curse was invoked. Emma agrees to let Regina teach her how to use magic so that she can help defeat Zelena, and Mary Margaret and David try to prove that they can be just as much fun as Hook is with Henry — who thinks they are boring. Meanwhile, in Fairy Tale Land during the past year, an angry Ariel confronts Hook over her missing Prince Eric, who she assumes was kidnapped and possibly killed by the swarthy pirate. But when Hook confesses that the Jolly Roger has been stolen and Eric is most likely the thief’s prisoner, Ariel unknowingly provides him with a clue as to who the culprit is, and Hook – with Ariel in tow – goes off in search of his ship.

With Rumplestiltskin as her slave, Zelena challenges Regina to a fight to the death and shocks the Evil queen with the reveal of their familial connection, and the town lays Neal to rest. Meanwhile, back in the past in the land of Oz, a jealous Zelena asks the Wizard to send her to Fairy Tale Land after discovering that she has a sister, Regina, and that Rumplestiltskin is training her to become a powerful force to be reckoned with.

Neal finds himself back in Storybrooke and yearns for a way to reconnect with his son Henry, whose memories of his father are gone, while also trying to find his own father, Rumplestiltskin, whom he has just learned is alive but missing, and Regina discovers a possible connection with Robin Hood. Meanwhile, in the Fairy Tale Land that was over the past year, agonizing over the death of his father, Neal – with the help of Belle and enchanted candelabra Lumiere – attempts to find a magical solution to bring back Rumplestiltskin from the dead.

While Emma, David, Regina and Hook continue their search for the Wicked Witch, she, in turn, is planning a dark surprise for David, and Zelena’s prisoner is powerless under her watch as she plots her next course of action against the townspeople. Meanwhile, in the Fairy Tale Land that was in the previous year, Prince Charming stumbles upon Rapunzel, who is trapped inside a tower, and must help her confront her fears in order for her to be free.

In New York, Hook tries to make Emma remember by something very powerful: true love. In the Enchanted Forest, Regina, Snow, and Charming all team up to defeat a very powerful witch. In another world’s past, a young girl learns how to use wizardry only to be hunted by a mob.

In New York, Hook tries to get Emma to remember who she really is. In the past, the Storybrooke residents return to the Enchanted Forest and are threatened by a threat like no other.

The residents of Storybrooke race to stop Pan from placing another curse on the town.

Pan’s plan threatens the citizens of Storybrooke’s joy over Henry’s return; Snow and Charming spend their honeymoon searching for a mythical being that could stop Regina.

The race to stop Pan is on as Henry’s life hangs in the balance; with Mr. Gold’s help, Regina decides to adopt a baby.

Pan leads Henry to a secret cave, where he has convinced the boy that he alone can save magic – and Neverland itself. But a showdown between good and evil is about to go down as Emma, Mary Margaret, David, Regina, Mr. Gold, and Hook find themselves directly on a path to Pan in an effort to save Henry.

Mr. Gold and Regina send Ariel back to Storybrooke with an item that will allow Belle to locate a hidden artifact that could help take down Pan. But unbeknownst to them, two men have broken into the town with the intent to stop them – at all costs. Meanwhile, Emma, Neal and Hook attempt to find Dark Hollow, where Peter Pan’s shadow dwells, in order to capture it, and Mary Margaret is upset with David for keeping his poisoning a secret from her.

Back in the Fairy Tale Land that was, when Ariel saves Snow White from drowning in the ocean’s depths, Snow returns the favor by helping her new friend get acquainted with Prince Eric, with whom she has fallen madly in love with. Meanwhile, Emma, Mary Margaret, David and Hook attempt to save Neal, who is imprisoned in one of Pan’s encampments, and Regina and Mr. Gold begrudgingly team up to find a way to take down Pan.

With the deadly Dreamshade coursing through David’s body and close to death, Hook takes him on one last journey to find a sextant that could help them decipher a map that would lead them off Neverland. Meanwhile, in the Fairy Tale Land that was, Killian Jones – aka Hook – and his brother, Captain Liam, sail off under orders of the King to find a powerful indigenous plant on an uncharted land that could help heal any injury.