Once upon a time, there was a land of fairytales living in the real world. They were cursed by the Evil Queen, Regina Mills, all because Snow White told Regina's mother about her and the stable boy having romantic affairs.
The curse lasted twenty-eight long years and nobody knew who they were, except for two people, Regina and Mr. Gold (Rumplestiltskin). But what Regina didn't count on was Mr. Gold helping the Savior.
She was the only one who could break the curse that Regina had caused all over the magical land of fairytales. Snow White and Prince Charming had a baby girl and named her Emma Swan. She would be later known as the Savior.
Years later when Emma became a late teenager, Emma met a guy and she got pregnant by him. She had Henry in jail for a petty crime that she would love to forget about. But also, she was a changed woman and wanted nothing better to do than to move on.
Henry Mills got adopted by Regina Mills when he was just a few weeks old, and the two came back to Storybrooke, Maine where they lived. At the age of ten Henry got on a bus with a book called, Once Upon A Time. That also happened to be Emma Swan's twenty-eighth birthday. He dragged her back to where he lived and tried to make her believe in the fairytales and tried to make her believe in magic.
Emma stayed in Storybrooke for a week and within the week, she grew close to Mary Margaret Blanchard, a school teacher who happens to be Henry's teacher and the one who gave him the Once Upon A Time book.
Mary Margaret and David Nolan had fallen in love but they couldn't be together because he was married to Kathryn Nolan. David and Mary Margaret sneaked around and Regina had them followed and had pictures of the pair to Kathryn. That night, Kathryn tried to leave Storybrooke and move to Boston but that night the unthinkable happened. She went missing and presumably died.
Mary Margaret went to jail for the murder of Kathryn Nolan. Emma tried to find who killed her but she had no luck. She went to Mr. Gold for help. A few days later, Kathryn laid facedown on the ground. Alive and well.
After the whole thing, the tension between Emma and Regina grew. And it wasn't pretty at all. Emma tried to get Henry out of Storybrooke but Henry convinced her to not do that.
Emma and Regina talked, and Regina gave Emma an Apple Upside treat. Later that day, Henry came to Emma and Mary Margaret's apartment and took a bite of the Apple Upside treat, and then he went into a magical coma.
Regina and Emma had to fight a dragon to get something for Mr. Gold and after they got it, Mr. Gold tied up Regina while Emma had to climb out of the elevator. Henry still didn't change.
That's when Emma finally believed in fairytales and magic. She had leaned down and kissed Henry's forehead and everyone in the town remembered who they were.
Mr. Gold and Belle went to the Wishing Well and dropped the potion into the well and a purple smoke went over the town.