Clopin tells the children the story of the mysterious bell ringer at Notre Dame.
In the night, a gypsy and a man try to get into Paris, but they were trapped by Judge Claude Frollo, the corrupt Minister of Justice. He arrests them, but the gypsy escapes and Frollo chases her through town. She tries to get inside Notre Dame, but to no avail. Frollo kills her by knocking her to the stairs and finds out that she is carrying a baby.
Calling it a monster due to its deformity, Frollo attempts to throw it to the well, but the Archdeacon stops him, telling him that he killed an innocent woman and must raise the baby as his own child. Frollo reluctant agrees with one condition that it will live in Notre Dame.
20 years later, Quasimodo, the hunchback, has become a bell ringer of Notre Dame. He is alone, but has 3 gargoyles Victor, Hugo, and Laverne accompanying him. Quasimodo has a strong desire to go outside and just as he is about to leave, Frollo arrives and asks him who is he talking to. When Quasimodo replies that he is talking to his friends that are stone, Frollo tells him that stone can't talk.
He reviews Quasimodo's alphabet and upon hearing the word festival for F, he reminds Quasimodo about how the people will treat him badly because of his deformity. Quasimodo apologizes and not only Frollo forgives him, but reminds him that Notre Dame is his sanctuary.
Meanwhile, Phoebus walks to the Palace of Justice. He defends a gypsy woman named Esmeralda from the guards. Upon walking to the Palace of Justice, Frollo is seen punishing one of his men. He takes Phoebus to take look at the gypsies, whom Frollo thinks that they're evil and that they must be stopped. Phoebus is skeptical about catching fortune tellers and palm readers. Frollo tells him that the gypsies have a place on their own, the Court of Miracles. When being asked what to do with them, Frollo squishes all of the ants. In other words, kill the gypsies.
In the Festival of Fools, Frollo watches the festival including Esmeralda dancing. While there, he finds Quasimodo being crowned as King of Fools and he is angered that Quasimodo disobeyed him.
When Quasimodo gets into trouble, Frollo refuses to help him. However, Esmeralda helps him and stands up to Frollo that he may speak words of justice, but he is cruel to those who needs his help. Frollo warns Esmeralda that she will pay for her insolence, and Esmeralda smites him by throwing the King of Fools crown to his feet. Enraged, Frollo orders Phoebus to arrest her, but Esmeralda escapes by magic, which Frollo thinks that she is using witchcraft.
Esmeralda is chased by Frollo's men, but she escapes from them. Frollo orders Phoebus to look for Esmeralda alive. Quasimodo goes back to Notre Dame humiliated and rejected.
Inside, Esmeralda gets into a fight with Phoebus. Fortunately for her, he has no intention to arrest her. Frollo arrives and orders Phoebus to arrest Esmeralda. Phoebus tells Esmeralda to say sanctuary, but she refuses because she thinks that Phoebus has betrayed her. When Frollo asks for Esmeralda, Phoebus claims that since she claimed sanctuary in Notre Dame, she can't be harmed. Frollo orders him to drag her outside, but the Archdeacon defends Esmeralda from him by reminding of how Frollo respected the sanctity of the church.
Angered, Frollo and his guards leave, but the former sneaks into Esmeralda from behind when the Archdeacon leave. He begins to grope her, but she gets free. Frollo leaves, but not before warning Esmeralda if she goes outside, he will get her.
Esmeralda encounters Quasimodo inside and apologizes about what happened at the festival. She begins understand Quasimodo and he helped her escape from Frollo. Quasimodo begins to fall in love with her.
In the Palace of Justice, Frollo is fearing that he has lust for Esmeralda and knows that it is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. He fears of going to Hell if he gets into a relationship with her. Just then, he is informed by one of his men that Esmeralda escapes and Frollo swears that he will find her even if he has to burn down Paris. Frollo threatens Esmeralda to either be with him or send her to Hell by burning her to death.
In the next day, Frollo leads a search for Esmeralda. He finds a man harboring gypsies and puts him under house arrest until he is proven innocent. After locking the door of the man's house, Frollo orders Phoebus to burn the house with the man and his family inside, something that he doesn't want to do because he is not trained to murder the innocent. When Frollo tells Phoebus that he is trained to follow his orders, the latter defies the former by putting the torch to a bucket of water. Frollo sets the house on fire.
Phoebus saves the man and his family, but because of this action, Frollo calls him a traitor and tries to execute him, but he is saved by Esmeralda. However, he is shot by one of Frollo's men with an arrow. Frollo orders his men to stop firing, thinking that Phoebus will just die of drowning. Esmeralda saves him.
In Paris, Frollo has began burning houses, but Esmeralda is nowhere to be found.
Inside Notre Dame, Quasimodo is orders to take care of Phoebus. While doing so, he is heartbroken upon seeing Esmeralda and Phoebus declare their love for one another.
After Esmeralda leaves, Frollo arrives to have dinner with Quasimodo and begins to suspect that he is hiding Phoebus. Frollo sees the figure of Esmeralda, leading him to realize that Quasimodo helped her escape. He pins the blame of burning Paris to Quasimodo and when he tells him that Esmeralda is kind, Frollo abuses him, telling him that it was cunning she uses, and that gypsies are not capable of real love. Frollo tells Quasimodo not to worry as he will try to get Esmeralda out of their lives forever. He tells Quasimodo that he will attack the Court of Miracles at dawn with a thousand men.
Upon hearing the plan, Phoebus leaves. Quasimodo is reluctant to help him because Esmeralda has love for Phoebus, not him. Quasimodo leads Phoebus in a crypt where the Court of Miracles is.
Inside, they were captured by Clopin and thinks they're Frollo's spies. He tries to execute them, but is stopped by Esmeralda. Phoebus warns the gypsies that Frollo is coming to get them and they start packing. However, Frollo manages to corner them, and says that he knew Quasimodo is useful to him someday.
At dawn outside at Notre Dame, Frollo tries to get Esmeralda to choose between being with him or get burned. Inside Notre Dame, Victor, Hugo, and Laverne try to encourage Quasimodo to escape, but he gives up knowing that Frollo has won. However, upon seeing Esmeralda is gonna get burned, Quasimodo escapes and rescues her.
Frollo demands his men to seize the cathedral and to break down the door. Phoebus escapes and convinces all of Paris to turn against Frollo since his methods are really going too far.
Quasimodo has placed molten lead at Notre Dame, but Frollo manages to get inside. The Archdeacon is enraged at Frollo's attack at the cathedral and demands him to stop it, but Frollo tosses him aside from the stairs and locks the door so that he can't interfere.
Meanwhile, Quasimodo finds Esmeralda unconscious, and thinks she's dead. Just then, Frollo arrives and pretends to have remorse in killing Esmeralda. Just as he is about to kill Quasimodo, he struggles with Frollo and is enraged about telling him that the world is cruel place, but now Quasimodo learns that the only thing that is bad in the world is people like Frollo.
Quasimodo finds Esmeralda is okay and Frollo pulls out his sword, intending to kill both of them. While fighting, Frollo admits to Quasimodo that he killed his mother and he will do one thing he should have done in 20 years ago: killing Quasimodo. He uses his cape at Quasimodo and tries to send him falling to his death, but Quasimodo grabs on to the cape and pulls Frollo. While Esmeralda is trying to pull Quasimodo, Frollo stands to one of the gargoyles and tries to kill the two, but the gargoyle comes to life and Frollo falls to his death.
Just as Quasimodo is about to fall, he is saved by Phoebus and accepts the relationship between him and Esmeralda.
Outside, Quasimodo is declared a hero by everyone in Paris.
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