The Invention of Hugo Cabret

A full moon shines brightly over the Eiffel Tower on a starry night. Before long, night gives way to day as the sun comes up over Paris. As the sun rises, crowds flock to a large, elegant train station with a clock tower and massive stone archways. Among the crowd, a young boy makes his way up some stairs and then walks past several trains preparing to depart.

Soon, the boy finds himself in a quieter part of the station. He walks down a dark, empty hallway with a mischievous look on his face. On a wall in the middle of the hallway is a small vent, which he opens and crawls through. The vent leads to the backside of a clock, which overlooks a nearby street. The clock is translucent, allowing the boy to spy on the street without being seen. He peers through the “5” on the clock and sees an old man sitting at a toy shop across the street from the train station. Despite the toys surrounding him, the old man looks bored and depressed. At the moment, he has no customers, so he keeps his eye on the same clock the boy is hiding behind.

The boy—whose name is Hugo—watches as a young girl, approximately his age, walks up to the old man and talks to him. Hugo is nervous as he watches. He tells himself to be calm and rubs his fingers on a notebook in his pocket. From where he sits, it looks like the little girl and the old man are arguing. Hugo knows they know each other because he regularly sees the little girl at the toy shop. The little girl always carries books with her.

Hugo notices that the old man is irritated. He wonders if the old man found out that he is missing some toys. Even if that is the case, Hugo does not care—he needs the toys and plans to continue stealing them. Soon, the argument between the old man and the girl ends, and the girl runs off. Immediately afterward, the old man closes his eyes, much to Hugo’s delight. Hugo exits the vent and carefully makes his way over to the toy shop. Once there, he gives his notebook one final rub and slowly reaches up to grab a blue windup mouse. However, as he does so, the old man wakes up and grabs his arm.

The old man starts yelling “thief” and calls for the Station Inspector, which sends Hugo into a panic. He desperately tries to escape the old man’s grasp. As he struggles, the old man tells Hugo to empty his pockets. In response, Hugo growls at him. Annoyed, the old man tightens his grip, and soon Hugo gives in. Hugo empties his pockets, which are full of miscellaneous objects including gears, screws, matches, and small candles.

However, there is one pocket Hugo does not empty. The old man notices and tells Hugo to keep going. Hugo lies and says there is nothing in the remaining pocket, prompting the old man to yell for the Station Inspector again. Hugo knows the Station Inspector could ruin his life, so he takes his notebook out of his pocket and shows it to the old man. The old man rips the notebook from Hugo’s grasp and looks through it. Among its pages is a drawing of an automaton, which catches the old man’s eye.

At the sight of the automaton, the old man mysteriously says, “Ghosts […] I knew they would find me here eventually.” Not sure how to feel about the drawing, the old man asks Hugo who he is and whether he drew the pictures. Hugo refuses to answer and instead starts growling again, which only makes the old man angrier. Then, the old man asks Hugo if he stole the notebook. Hugo says he did not.

Hugo’s response appears to satisfy the old man. He pushes Hugo away and tells him not to come back. As Hugo stumbles backward, he crushes the toy mouse. Realizing what he has done, Hugo picks up the broken pieces and returns them to the old man. Then, Hugo tells the old man that he needs the notebook back. The old man says he plans to keep the notebook and might even burn it if he feels like it. The suggestion appalls Hugo, but he still refuses to tell the old man anything about the notebook's contents. Hugo leaves, upset, and calls the old man a “thief.”