It is 1482 and the people of Paris have gathered to watch a play in the Palace of Justice to celebrate the “Feast of Fools” (a popular medieval carnival). The play’s author, Pierre Gringoire, is extremely proud of his work and excited to show it to the public. Unfortunately for him, the guests of honor—a group of visiting ambassadors—are late and the crowd, who are squeezed into the hall, grow restless as they wait for the festivities to begin. At last, afraid for the safety of the actors (who are scared the crowd will hang them for making them wait), Gringoire orders them to start the play. A few moments into the prologue, however, the ambassadors arrive, and the crowd are distracted by the procession of famous politicians who enter the hall. Among these ambassadors is a Flemish man named Jacques Coppenole, who was a clothmaker before he was a nobleman and who dislikes the pomp and ceremony among the French upper classes. Coppenole dislikes Gringoire’s play, which he finds stuffy, and tells the crowd that, in his country, they have a face-pulling contest to celebrate the “Feast of Fools” and whoever pulls the ugliest face is crowned the fool’s pope. The people love this idea; Gringoire’s work is immediately forgotten and a face-pulling contest is quickly arranged. The crowd are delighted with the variety of hideous and terrifying faces that are on show. Finally, a winner is chosen, and the crowd draw back in horror as they see how ugly he is. The Parisians recognize the man as Quasimodo, the hunchback bell-ringer of Notre Dame cathedral. The crowd are afraid of Quasimodo because of his hideous appearance, but they crown him the fool’s pope and parade him through the streets. Gringoire watches in dismay as the whole audience follows this procession from the hall.
After the day’s events, Gringoire finds himself with no money (he has not been paid for his play) and nowhere to sleep for the night. He wanders into the square of the Place de Grève (which is often used for public beatings and executions) where a crowd has gathered around a bonfire. The crowd watches, enthralled, as a beautiful gypsy girl named Esmeralda dances for them and does tricks with her pet goat, Djali. Gringoire notices that another man, Claude Frollo, the Archdeacon of Notre Dame, also watches Esmeralda intently. Frollo shouts that Esmeralda is a witch and Esmeralda makes to leave the square. Just then, the fool’s pope procession enters the square and, seeing Quasimodo among them, Frollo rushes up to the hunchback and signals furiously to him to leave. Quasimodo obeys Frollo and the two men leave the square. Esmeralda begins to dance again, but another woman, Sister Gudule—a recluse who lives in a cell in the square and who hates gypsies because she believes they murdered her child—screams that Esmeralda is a demon and Esmeralda flees. Gringoire follows her to see if she will lead him to a bed for the night.
As Gringoire follows Esmeralda through the streets, he witnesses two men try to attack her. One of the men is Quasimodo and the other is Frollo. Gringoire is knocked down during the scuffle and Esmeralda is rescued by Phoebus, a young solider who is the captain of the King’s guards. Phoebus arrests Quasimodo—Frollo escapes—and Gringoire gets lost in the sprawling maze of streets that he has followed Esmeralda into. Gringoire suddenly finds himself surrounded by beggars and realizes he has stumbled into the “Court of Miracles,” an infamous den of thieves. The thieves take Gringoire to their leader, Clopin Trouillefou, who wants to hang Gringoire for trespassing. Esmeralda reappears, however, and says that she will marry Gringoire to save him from death. Clopin performs the marriage ceremony and, relieved, Gringoire follows Esmeralda to her home and tries to seduce her. Esmeralda fends off his advances, however, and Gringoire accepts some food instead and agrees to be like a brother to her. While Gringoire eats, Esmeralda dreamily asks him what “Phoebus” means and Gringoire says it means “sun.” Delighted with this, Esmeralda dashes off to her own room and locks the door.
Claude Frollo was once a passionate and generous young man and a devout religious scholar. He adopted Quasimodo, who was abandoned as an infant, and he also adopted his own younger brother, Jehan Frollo, after their parents died. Frollo dedicated his life to Jehan’s education—in the hope that Jehan would grow up to be a brilliant scholar—and taught Quasimodo to speak and gave him the job as bell-ringer in Notre Dame. Unfortunately, however, Quasimodo went deaf because of the noise from the bells. Jehan grows up to be a debauched and thoughtless young man and Quasimodo is widely hated and feared because of his deformed appearance, so as the years pass, Frollo grows bitter and feels that all his plans are doomed to fail. He begins to experiment with alchemy (a medieval science focused on turning certain metals into other substances and, particularly, with making gold and discovering the secret to eternal life) and develops a reputation in Paris as a sorcerer who has sold his soul to the devil. He becomes a powerful religious figure in the city and even King Louis XI visits Frollo for medical advice. One day, Frollo sees Esmeralda dancing in the square and becomes infatuated with her. He believes that she has been sent by the devil to tempt him and begins to put together a case to accuse her of witchcraft.
Although it was Frollo’s idea to abduct Esmeralda so that he could rape her, Quasimodo is put on trial for her abduction—which Gringoire witnessed—and is sentenced to a public beating. During this beating, Quasimodo cries out for water and Esmeralda approaches and offers him a drink. Quasimodo is touched by her kindness and falls in love with Esmeralda himself. Esmeralda, however, is in love with Phoebus, who is engaged to marry a young noblewoman named Fleur-de-Lys. One day, Fleur-de-Lys and her friends see Esmeralda dancing in the square while Phoebus is with them. Fleur-de-Lys notices Phoebus’s interest in Esmeralda and invites her inside, where she and her friends insult Esmeralda because they are jealous of her beauty. Phoebus is very struck with Esmeralda and arranges a private meeting with her. The day that he is due to meet Esmeralda, Phoebus bumps into Jehan, who has just visited Frollo and borrowed money from him. Jehan and Phoebus go to the pub together to spend this money and Frollo sneaks after them, having followed Jehan after his visit. When Phoebus emerges from the pub that evening and sets off to meet Esmeralda, Frollo follows him. Phoebus heads for an inn and Frollo stops him just before he goes inside. Frollo offers Phoebus money and says that he wants to spy on Phoebus’s meeting with Esmeralda. Phoebus agrees and Frollo enters the inn with Phoebus and hides in a cupboard in the room, while Phoebus goes to get Esmeralda. Frollo watches Phoebus begin to undress Esmeralda—who has taken a vow of chastity and tries to resist his advances—but then Frollo flies into a jealous rage, bursts out of the cupboard, and stabs Phoebus before escaping out the window. Horrified, Esmeralda faints and wakes up to find herself under arrest for Phoebus’s murder. Esmeralda is tried for witchcraft—she is accused of using magic to lure Phoebus to his death—and is sentenced to be hung. Esmeralda is mad with fear and grief and does not know that Phoebus is, in fact, still alive but has abandoned her to her fate. As she is led to the gallows to be hung, Frollo approaches her and says that he will save her if she will agree to be his lover. Esmeralda refuses and Frollo flees the square. Just as Esmeralda is about to be hung, Quasimodo rushes out of Notre Dame, snatches Esmeralda, and carries her inside the church, where he cries out for “asylum”—a medieval law that meant condemned prisoners could take refuge in certain religious buildings. When Frollo returns to Notre Dame, he believes that Esmeralda is dead and thinks he sees her ghost in the bell tower.
Quasimodo cares for Esmeralda while she hides in Notre Dame. One night, he visits Phoebus and tries to persuade him to prove Esmeralda’s innocence, but Phoebus thinks Quasimodo is a demon and hurries away. Frollo discovers that Esmeralda is alive and hiding in the cathedral. He tries to rape her one night and Quasimodo pulls him off her. Frollo then realizes that Quasimodo is in love with Esmeralda too and he becomes jealous of the hunchback. One night, Frollo approaches Gringoire, who still lives in the “Court of Miracles,” and asks for his help rescuing Esmeralda, who he says is trapped in Notre Dame. Gringoire organizes a riot among the thieves who live in the Court and these men besiege Notre Dame and try to free Esmeralda. Quasimodo, however, believes that the rioters want to see her hung and tries to fight them off, leaving Esmeralda alone. In the confusion, Frollo sneaks into Notre Dame and kidnaps Esmeralda. He takes her to the Place de Grève and tells her that she can either become his lover or he will call the guards and have her killed. Esmeralda tells him she will never love him and Frollo gives Esmeralda to Sister Gudule to hold while he goes to fetch the guards. Esmeralda asks Sister Gudule why she hates her so much and Sister Gudule says that gypsies killed her daughter, who would have been Esmeralda’s age by now. Esmeralda desperately explains that she was abducted by gypsies as a baby and shows Sister Gudule a baby shoe, which is the only sign she has of her parentage. Sister Gudule is horrified. She has the other shoe, which means that Esmeralda is her daughter. The guards reappear and, though Sister Gudule desperately tries to protect Esmeralda, Esmeralda is dragged away to be hung. In the struggle with the guards, Sister Gudule is knocked down and killed. Frollo watches Esmeralda’s execution from the bell tower of Notre Dame. While Frollo watches, Quasimodo appears behind him and, seeing what Frollo has done, pushes him to his death. Esmeralda is buried in a mass grave and Quasimodo leaves Notre Dame and lies down in the grave with her body, where he dies of grief.
