The romantic adventure, The Wizard of Oz, known to many from childhood, tells of an ordinary Kansas farmgirl caught up in one of the frequent, but none the less legendary, tornadoes which inflict that part of the United States, with often weird and always unpredictable consequences. Dorothy's life is a typical mixture of the material needs of a family living at the poverty line, of good people and bad, and of simple faith in the importance of genuine human emotions. However, Dorothy is herself full of longing for some other place where she would never get into any trouble, and she is thus out of doors when the tornado arrives, having decided to run away from home with her little dog, Toto. Realising the danger of the coming maelstrom, she unsuccessfully seeks entry into the locked storm cellar where the others are sheltered, and, retreating into the house, is struck on the head by a flying window. Knocked unconscious, Dorothy enters into a dream which occupies the main part of the story, until she is awakened by her aunt shaking her to her senses again. In her dream, Dorothy becomes a traveller in a fantastic, colourful world of little people, sad creatures, good and wicked witches, encountering whom, Dorothy seeks advice which would enable her to return to her normal life on the farm with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, the quintessential midwestern couple.