Mandy is a talented artist with a successful comic book called “City in Rage” depicting ruthless gangsters in the 1920s who fight against a dashing hero – Steve, based on a real man Mandy loved and lost. Her life is calm and rather boring. Her friend Jennifer, who lives in the same building, tries to offer excitement, but it’s a losing battle.

One day, Mandy browses antiques at a local store and purchases an antique mirror for her study, to her friend Jennifer's dismay. Jennifer thinks the mirror is hideous and questions Mandy’s sanity. It turns out that this isn't any old mirror. It has a mythological nature about it. Belonging to goddesses many years ago, there is a curse that a new owner has to bear. The mirror grants the new owner’s one greatest desire. That just doesn’t turn out the way most people expect.

While Mandy sleeps at her desk, the mirror opens a doorway between Mandy's real world and the world she created in her books so Steve can return to her life. She has missed her fiancee terribly since his death. Now he’s suddenly real again, in a way. 

The deal comes with baggage - the gangsters that battle Steve back in his world. They are ruthless killers led by a commanding Derek. It is Derek’s belief that if they kill their creator, the one who opened the portal, that the doorway may stay open forever. They would be able to go back and forth to the animated and real worlds. Leading crime rings in both makes the effort worth it.

While being roughed up by Derek and his three men, Mandy barely clings to consciousness long enough to see Steve rescue her. He runs off the gang into the real world and tends to Mandy’s injuries. Initially, she refuses to believe any of this is real. Maybe she has a concussion. As time passes, she comes to the realization that Steve and the gangsters are all completely real as long as they are on her side of the portal.

Derek is relentless to kill his creator. Steve takes Mandy into hiding, where they spend quality time alone. Steve loves Mandy with all his heart. He just doesn’t want to show feelings or act on them to avoid hurting her when he goes back to his world permanently. Both succumb to their feelings and spend a special night together.

Derek kidnaps Mandy and forces her back to the animated world, where he holds her hostage. Steve tracks her down, but she wants him to return to her study and draw some sketches showing Derek and his men dying in a tragic accident. If they are drawn dead in the real world, they disappear in the animated world. Steve reluctantly agrees. As Derek’s men fade away, Derek barely makes it through the portal in time. Mandy follows. During a struggle, she is shot before Derek dies. In order to save her, Steve leaves her on the other side of the portal and draws her recovering. When he starts to cross back, he finds the portal has closed and trapped Mandy in the animated world.