A widower merchant lives in a mansion with his twelve children (six sons and six daughters). All his daughters are very beautiful, but the youngest, Beauty, is the most lovely, as well as kind, well-read, and pure of heart; while the two elder sisters, in contrast, are cruel, selfish, vain, and spoiled. The merchant eventually loses all of his wealth in a tempest at sea, which sinks most of his merchant fleet. He and his children are consequently forced to live in a small cottage in a forest and work for a living. While Beauty makes a firm resolution to adjust to rural life with a cheerful disposition, her sisters do not and mistake her firmness for insensibility.
Some years later, the merchant hears that one of the trade ships he had sent has arrived back in port, having escaped the destruction of its companions. Before leaving, he asks his children if they wish for him to bring any gifts back for them. His oldest daughters ask for clothing, jewels, and the finest dresses possible as they think his wealth has returned. Beauty asks for nothing but her father to be safe, but when he insists on buying her a present, she is satisfied with the promise of a rose as none grow in their part of the country. The merchant, to his dismay, finds that his ship's cargo has been seized to pay his debts, leaving him penniless and unable to buy his children's presents.
During his return, the merchant becomes lost during a storm. Seeking shelter, he comes upon a palace. Seeing that no one is home, the merchant sneaks in and finds tables inside laden with food and drink, which seem to have been left for him by the palace's invisible owner. The merchant accepts this gift and spends the night there. The next morning, the merchant has come to view the palace as his own possession and is about to leave to fetch his children when he sees a rose garden and recalls that Beauty had desired a rose. The merchant quickly plucks the loveliest rose he can find, and is about to pluck more to create a bouquet, only to end up being confronted by a hideous "Beast" who tries to kill him for stealing of his most precious possession (after accepting his hospitality). The merchant begs to be set free, revealing that he had only picked the rose as a gift for his youngest daughter. The Beast agrees to let him give the rose to Beauty, but only if the merchant brings one of his daughters to take his place without deception; he makes it clear she must agree to take his place while under no illusions about her predicament.
The merchant is upset but accepts this condition. The Beast sends him on his way, with wealth, jewels and fine clothes for his sons and daughters, and stresses that his daughters must not be lied to. The merchant, upon arriving home, hands Beauty the rose she requested and informs her it had a terrible price, before relaying what had happened during his absence. Her brothers say they will go to the castle and fight the Beast, while his older daughters refuse to leave and place blame on Beauty, urging her to right her own wrong. The merchant dissuades them, forbidding his children from ever going near the Beast. Beauty decides to go to the Beast's castle and the following morning she and her father set out atop a magical horse which the Beast has provided them with. The Beast receives her with great ceremony and her arrival is greeted with fireworks entwining their initials. He gives her lavish clothing and food and carries on lengthy conversations with her and she notes that he is inclined to stupidity rather than savagery. Every night, the Beast asks Beauty to sleep with him, only to be refused each time. After each refusal, Beauty dreams of a handsome unknown who she begins to fall in love with. Despite the apparition of a fairy urging her not to be deceived by appearances she does not make the connection between the unknown and the Beast and becomes convinced that the Beast is holding him captive somewhere in the castle. She searches and discovers many enchanted rooms containing sources of entertainment ranging from libraries to aviaries to enchanted windows allowing her to attend the theater. She also comes across many animals including parrots and monkeys which act as servants, but never the unknown from her dreams.
For several months, Beauty lives a life of luxury at the Beast's palace, having every whim catered to, with no end of riches to amuse her and an endless supply of exquisite finery to wear. Eventually, she becomes homesick and begs the Beast to allow her to go see her family again. He allows it on the condition that she returns exactly two months later. Beauty agrees to this and is presented with an enchanted ring which allows her to wake up in her family's new home in an instant when turned three times around her finger. Her older sisters are surprised to find her well fed and dressed in finery and their old jealousy quickly flares when their suitors gazes turn to Beauty despite her providing her sisters lavish gifts to bestow on them and eventually informing the men that she was only there to witness the weddings of her sisters. However, Beauty's heart is moved by her father's overprotection, and she reluctantly agrees to stay longer.
When the two months have passed she envisions the Beast dying alone on the castle grounds and hastens to return despite her brothers resolve to prevent her doing so. Once she is back in the castle, Beauty's fears are confirmed and she finds the Beast near death in a cave on the grounds. Seeing this, Beauty is distraught, realizing that she loves him. Despite this she remains calm and fetches water from a nearby spring which she uses to resuscitate him. That night, she agrees to marry him and when she wakes up next to him she finds the Beast transformed into the unknown from her dreams. This is followed by the arrival of the fairy who had previously advised her in her dreams, along with a woman she does not recognize, in a golden carriage pulled by white stags. The woman turns out to be the Prince's mother whose joy quickly falters when she finds out that Beauty is not of noble birth. The fairy chastises her and eventually reveals that Beauty is her niece with her actual father being the Queen's brother from Happy Island and her being the fairy's sister.
When the matter of Beauty's background is resolved she requests the Prince tell his tale and so he does. The Prince informs her that his father died when he was young and his mother had to wage war to defend his kingdom. The queen left him in the care of an evil fairy, who tried to seduce him when he became an adult; when he refused, she transformed him into a beast. Only by finding true love, despite his ugliness, could the curse be broken. He and Beauty are married and they live happily ever after together.