Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone had the unenviable task of introducing everything, but with Chamber of Secrets, you march right into the adventure headlong.
After spending another miserable summer with the Dursleys, our boy Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is anxious to start his second year at Hogwarts, but a house elfnamed Dobby warns him he'll be in grave danger if he goes back.
He returns anyway and sure enough, once Harry joins up with his friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), weirdthings start to happen at school--one of which being that students are somehow being turned into stone.
Pretty soon it becomes clear the Chamber of Secrets--a legendary hidden chamber of evil built by one of Hogwarts' founders, the nasty Salazar Slytherin--has been opened. Legend says the chamber can only be opened by the true heir of Slytherin, and once it is, the beastwithin will be unleashedto purgethe school of those undeserving to study there. In other words, it'll get rid of wizardsand witcheswho come from non-magic heritage (or Muggles, as they're called).
This puts Hermione in particular danger since she comes from Muggle parents. Yikes. Harry has his hands full trying to figure this one out, especially since he is suspected as the one who opened the chamber.
