After a storm disrupts the hunting party, the prince and his best huntsman, Jack, find refuge in an abandoned castle. The castle is overgrown with ivy and crumbling, and Jack has a bad feeling about what may be inside, but they decide to venture in anyways and stay the night. They make a fire and begin to explore the grand rooms. They come across an impressive armory, and the prince picks up a beautiful sword and begins swinging it around.

Suddenly, out of the dark, a frightful beast emerges and strikes the prince to the ground, growling that the sword belonged to its father. The beast threatens to keep the prince in the castle forever for punishment. Jack, ever protecting his prince, offers to be imprisoned instead, in exchange for the prince's freedom. The beast agrees, and the prince flees the castle. The beast scoops up Jack and deposits him in a servant's cell.

The beast brings Jack meals in the cell. One day, upon inspecting the beast's mannerisms and clothing scraps, Jack makes a discovery: the beast is a woman. Jack's view on the beast immediately changes, and he feels softer towards her. As they begin to talk, she allows him more freedom. He begins to cook meals for the two of them and clean the rooms of the castle, establishing a shaky trust. Eventually, he learns her backstory. A long time ago, a baron wanted her hand in marriage, but she refused. In retaliation, the baron and his marauders sieged the castle, employing a magician to lure out her family members, trick them, and kill them. The only survivor, she made the shot of a lifetime, driving an arrow into the baron's eye from the rooftop, killing him. In exchange, the magician cast a spell on her, causing her to become a beast until she could learn to submit herself to a man and allow herself to be tamed.

One day, Jack spots smoke in the distance, and realizes the prince's army is coming to lay siege to the castle. He ventures out to stop them, promising the suspicious beast that he will return. He meets the prince and tries to tell him the beast is an innocent victim, but the prince only thinks he has fallen under an evil spell and ties Jack up. Jack manages to escape, steal a horse, and return to the castle to warn the beast. He tells her he will be loyal to her, and that she should hide in the servant cells of the castle. When the army arrives, Jack tells the prince the beast has fled, that the castle belongs to an honorable woman, and that there is no need to attack. At that moment, a woman emerges from the castle — the beast in human form. The prince, bowing to her, believes Jack's story and rides off into the woods in pursuit of the supposedly-escaped beast.

Jack and the beast kiss and declare their love. Though the beast still refuses to submit to a man's will, she believes her trust in his loyalty was enough to break the spell.