In Beauty and the Beast, Belle, a young woman in a small, provincial town, meets the Beast, in reality a young prince, whose lack of compassion has trapped him in a spell placed by an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and to be loved, the spell will be broken and he will be transformed back to his former self. But time is running out, and if the Beast does not learn his lesson, he will be doomed for all eternity.