Cory Jones

Cory Jones moves with his mother and father from his comfortable life in Pontiac, Michigan to the Pink Palace, a dilapidated three-bedroom apartment building in Ashland, Oregon, which is also occupied by retired actresses Misses Spink and Forcible, and odd Russian acrobat Mr. Bobinsky. With his parents perpetually working on a cure for writer's rash and paying little attention to him, Cory feels writers block with his college work and decides to explore their new home, befriending Wybie Lovat, the grandson of the apartment's landlady. While exploring, Cory finds a small door sealed off by a brick wall. That night, Cory is awakened by a mouse and follows it to the small door where he discovers a long, dark corridor in the brick wall's place. Cory goes through it and finds himself in the Other World, a fantastical parallel version of the Pink Palace inhabited by doppelgangers and better versions of her parents called the Other Mother and Other Father, who have black buttons for eyes. These beings prove to be warmer and more attentive than Cory's real parents, particularly the Other Mother, who does everything he can to impress Cory. Cory decides to stay the night at the Other World, but when he wakes the next morning, he finds himself in his old world.

Despite warnings of danger from his neighbors, Coraline continues to go to the Other World at night to escape from the doldrums of his real life and is entertained by button-eyed "Other" versions of his neighbors, including a mute Other Wybie, who guides his through the Other World. During her third visit, Cory encounters a black cat from his own world that has the ability to talk in the Other World, and also warns Cory of danger. he disregards the warnings until the Other Mother invites him to live in the Other World forever if he sews buttons over his eyes.