The story involves the Tucks, a family who drank from a magic spring and became immortal (hence the name "Tuck Everlasting").

In the novel, set in the early 20th century, the protagonist is ten-year-old Winifred Foster. She comes from a well-bred, straitlaced family and becomes lost in the woods one day during an attempt to escape her smothered life. In the woods, she encounters the Tuck family, a band of immortals due to a spring from which they drank years ago. The novel ultimately puts up an argument for mortality and why it is necessary by using the Tucks as an example.

has been turned into two films by the same name. The first film was released in 1981. Disney's 2002 version was directed by Jay Russell and starred Victor Garber, Jonathan Jackson, William Hurt, Sissy Spacek and Alexis Bledel.