After sparing the life of a baby piglet almost slaughtered due to his status as runt of the litter, a little girl named Fern Arable adopts it and nurtures it lovingly, naming it Wilbur. However, she is crushed when the piglet matures enough to be separated from his mother, and Wilbur is thus sent to reside on a farm owned by Fern's uncle, Homer Zuckerman. Her powerful attachment to Wilbur mutual, the pig is left yearning for companionship but is snubbed by other barn animals. However, he is welcomed by an unseen voice who promises to befriend him, vowing to reveal itself to him in the morning. The voice is revealed to belong to a spider named Charlotte living on a web spun overlooking Wilbur's enclosure. Knowing of Wilbur's impending doom (as the Zuckerman’s plan on slaughtering him) she promises to spin a plan guaranteed to spare his life.
The rising action occurs after Wilbur learns that Mr. Zuckerman is thinking about turning him into bacon and ham. This news leads frightened Wilbur to ask Charlotte for help. Charlotte begins to weave webs that say words describing Wilbur. The Zuckerman’s are flabbergasted to catch sight of the words "SOME PIG" woven into the spider web, attracting great recognition and publicity. Understanding that Wilbur's chances of survival will be strengthened if similar miracles were to occur, Charlotte employs the assistance of Templeton the barnyard rat in gathering labels as inspiration for her spider web messages. Wilbur becomes very popular across the country because of the webs that Charlottes weaves for him.
As time passes, more and more engravings continue to appear on Charlotte's webs concerning Wilbur's value, attracting increasing notoriety and publicity. Taking part in the effort to stay live, Wilbur engages in activities that bear out the messages Charlotte weaves in her web, such as doing back flips with