After his father's death,
28 years old Philip Eastwick
returns from university to
look after the family estate.
One day he learns of the demise
of his father’s friend and a relative
Lord Sebastian.
After the funeral he asks the
daughter Alice, now a young lady,
to come and live with them
on their estate.
daughter Alice, now a young lady,
to come and live with them
on their estate.
Alice, now orphaned, Accepts his invitation.
On her arrival she meets young Henry another cousin.
They become good friends.
Henry, having finished high school
plans to go to the university next year.
Henry is an extraordinary boy and
a prodigy.
Philip employs Atkins
a retired professor to teach
Alice and Henry.
Although a dogmatic believer in science,
Atkins is often defensive before
Henry’s radical insights and his belief in mysteries of nature.
Henry argues that Nature is
full of mysteries, still beyond the
reach of science and One must
full of mysteries, still beyond the
reach of science and One must
accept natural phenomena
without skepticism.
He says and in order to
understand nature,one has
to be in complete empathy with it rather than confront
it and nature chooses its own moments of revelation for the
one who has faith and belief in its existence.
understand nature,one has
to be in complete empathy with it rather than confront
it and nature chooses its own moments of revelation for the
one who has faith and belief in its existence.
Alice finds Henry's words
illuminating and sees new
worlds opening up
before her.
Alice, Henry and Philip
go out riding together to explore the peacock forest.
They sing, dance, play
the piano and are exhilarated
in each other's company.
in each other's company.
Alice with the help of Henry
Along with their new little friends,
Alice and Henry begin to explore the
magical ‘peacock forest’.
Alice gets to know many interesting
tales about the forest, which is also known
as lover’s paradise.
tales about the forest, which is also known
as lover’s paradise.
Henry tells Alice that the forest reveals
itself only to a
fortunate few and it
has its own rules.
To everyone’s pleasant surprise the peacock forest
takes a liking to Alice and starts revealing wonderful things
in her presence.
takes a liking to Alice and starts revealing wonderful things
in her presence.
They find like the forest, Alice is also magical.
Philip's mother Lucia tells him that it is time he should
be getting married but Philip is wary of the 'society' girls
around.
be getting married but Philip is wary of the 'society' girls
around.
Lucia suggests that Alice would make a good wife.
One day, Philip is
visited by his old
friends, A poet and a
writer.
Having heard
interesting tales
about the forest, they decide to have a picnic there.
While partying, they come across Samuel, a local
town boy nicknamed Cacofonix.
town boy nicknamed Cacofonix.
The boy’s passion for playing
the violin was great, but he was
never any good at it.
never any good at it.
Now suddenly a changed Cacofonix appears at the
party and to everybody’s surprise Samuel plays lovely music
on the violin.
They all talk about the mysterious
nature of the forest.
He declares that the tales
about the peacock forest are
all made up and that there is no truth in them.
The party suddenly gets animated with the poet sighting
a golden peacock.
a golden peacock.
Except Alice and Henry no one seems to have seen it.
The poet explains that it is because none of them
believes in it.
believes in it.
They all discuss this.
One day, in town, Henry
and Alice meet Edward,
son of their Driver.
Edward tells them about
his trip on the Celestial
omnibus (a celestial vehicle, which has always a vacant seat
left).
his trip on the Celestial
omnibus (a celestial vehicle, which has always a vacant seat
left).
There he sees the local
postman who was behaving
strangely.
He tells them about the
post man, who wanted to get
down half way through as
he suddenly remembered his
young wife who is long dead.
post man, who wanted to get
down half way through as
he suddenly remembered his
young wife who is long dead.
It was rumored among the town folks that he was
suspicious of his young wife and her death is still a
mystery to the town folks.
mystery to the town folks.
Later, from the townsfolk, Henry and Alice learn of
the death of the postman, who had died in his sleep
of a heart attack.
of a heart attack.
Philip proposes to Alice and
decides to gift the peacock forest to
her on the day of their engagement.
But he first wants to put a fence
around the forest.
around the forest.
When Alice and Henry find
out, they protest. Alice argues that
the peacock forest is nature’s gift
to everyone, should not be fenced.
to everyone, should not be fenced.
Philip tells them that they have no knowledge of
business matters.
she would like it to belong
to everyone.
to everyone.
To her displeasure Philip goes ahead
with the fencing.
On the day of their engagement,
Philip discovers that Alice is missing.
They look all over the town but fail
find her.
Only Henry and his little friends
know that Alice has become
another mystery of
the peacock forest.
find her.
Only Henry and his little friends
know that Alice has become
another mystery of
the peacock forest.
* * * * *
