Returning home late one night after learning he is destitute, a merchant takes shelter in a castle. As he leaves the next morning, he fulfills his daughter Belle's wish that he bring her a rose by taking a single bloom from the castle garden. At that very moment the master appears, a creature that is half man and half beast. The Beast tells him he has a choice of dying or having one of his three daughters come to live in the castle. Of the three women, Belle has always been selfless and goes to the castle even though her father objects. Once there, the Beast assures her she will come to no harm and that they will meet once a day at 7 in the evening the dining room. Every day a dinner time, he asks her to marry him but she refuses. Love grows grow between them however leading to a magical resolution.—garykmcd