Long ago France. A handsome prince is unkind to an old crone, unaware that she's actually a witch. She puts a curse on him: until he learns to love--and find someone to love him back--he will live his days as a beast. In a small provincial town nearby, young Belle is considered odd because she likes to read. Only the vainglorious and shallow Gaston likes her, because she is beautiful. One day Belle's eccentric father, Maurice, gets lost in the forest and winds up at the castle of the Beast, where he finds out that all the Prince/Beast's servents have been cursed as well. All are slowly being turned from people into objects--butler Lumiere is becoming a candelabra, valet Cogsworth a clock, housekeeper Mrs. Potts a teapot, etc. Belle goes looking for her father and finds the castle. The Beast says he will let Maurice go if Belle takes his place--now and forever. Belle's love for her father forces her to agree, unhappily, to the Beast's terms. When he offers her the use of his library, though, they begin to grow closer, especially when the Beast sheepishly admits that he cannot read, and she teaches him. When Belle goes home on a brief furlough from the Beast, she speaks well of him, and Gaston, furious that she won't wed him, is determined to hunt down the Beast in revenge. Belle returns to the castle to warn the Beast. Gaston attacks the Beast, who seems terribly injured, prompting Belle to declare her love for him. The spell is broken, the Beast turns back into a handsome prince, and the two live, of course, happily ever after. Synopsis (c) Peter Filichia