Tristan Thorne (Charlie Cox) is the son of Dunstan Thorne and Una, a captive princess. The couple met only one night and fell in love instantly. Unfortunately, when Tristan was born, Una was not allowed to keep him and instead sent him to live with his father. She put in his basket a "Babylon candle", and a letter to Tristan explaining everything.

The story then jumps to Tristan as a young man, in love with the prettiest girl (Victoria) in a small English town (Wall Village). He is desperate to bring her a newly fallen star by her birthday. He uses the candle to fly to where the star landed, which is not in England but a magical land called Stormhold. But then he discovers that the star is not what he expected. It is actually a beautiful, young and spirited woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes). Despite this, Tristan is determined to marry Victoria and uses a silver chain that his father obtained after trying to free Una, to take Yvaine to England, promising to use the last of the magic candle to take her back to the sky afterwards.

However, Tristan is not the only one seeking the star. Yvaine is in terrible danger because the living sons of the King (Peter O'Toole) are looking for her, because only the jewel that she carries can secure the throne to one of them. Septimus, one of the princes, later finds out that a star's heart grants immortality and also tries to devour her heart so that he can rule the kingdom forever. Additionally, the three witches known as "The Lilim" — Mormo, Empusa and the eldest and the most powerful, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) — want her because they want to recover their beauty and eternal youth.

As Tristan sets out to protect Yvaine and bring her back to his beloved at the other side of the wall, his journey will bring incredible encounters with a pirate Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro), and a shady trader (Ricky Gervais), among other surprises. Lots of things he never imagined happen, the most prominent of which is that he falls in love with Yvaine. Yvaine also falls in love with him, and confesses this to him after a fourth witch turns him into a mouse, not realizing that he can still understand her.

After being converted back into a human, he is too woozy to continue the journey, and the two stop at an inn together. Tristan tells Yvaine that he returns her love. While Yvaine sleeps, Tristan cuts a piece of her hair and goes back to England to tell Victoria that he no longer loves her. When he tries to give Victoria the hair however, he finds that it has turned into stardust, or rock. He realizes that Yvaine cannot enter England and stay in human form and hurries back to the other side of the wall to find her.

Unfortunately, he arrives too late. Yvaine and Una were both captured by Lamia and taken back to The Lilim's castle, Yvaine to be killed and Una to be a servant. Tristan, with the help of Septimus, manages to defeat Mormo and Empusa, however Lamia kills Septimus and Tristan is forced to fight the prince's animated corpse. Lamia nearly kills Tristan, however Yvaine, now armed with the knowledge that Tristan really loves her, is able to unleash a powerful wave of light that disintegrates Lamia. Tristan picks up the magic necklace and becomes the next king of the land (Una was the king's daughter, making Tristan the last male heir). He becomes king with Yvaine at his side as queen. It is implied that the two will live forever, since Yvaine "gave" him her heart when she fell in love with him. After several generations pass, the two lovers use another Babylon candle that Una gives them to return to the sky, where they become twin stars.

[edit] Cast

• Charlie Cox as Tristan Thorn
• Claire Danes as Yvaine
• Michelle Pfeiffer as Lamia
• Robert De Niro as Captain Shakespeare
• Mark Strong as Septimus
• Nathaniel Parker as Dunstan Thorn
• Kate Magowan as Una
• Sienna Miller as Victoria Foresster
• Peter O'Toole as King of Stormhold
• Jason Flemyng as Primus
• Joanna Scanlan as Mormo
• Sarah Alexander as Empusa
• Rupert Everett as Secundus
• Ricky Gervais as Ferdy the Fence
• Mark Heap as Tertius
• Adam Buxton as Quintus
• Julian Rhind-Tutt as Quartus
• David Walliams as Sextus
• Melanie Hill as Ditchwater Sal
• Ben Barnes as Young Dunstan Thorn
• David Kelly as Guard
• Mark Williams as Billy
• Dexter Fletcher as Skinny Pirate
• Henry Cavill as Humphrey
• Ian McKellen as Narrator