艾斯米拉达(玛琳·奥哈拉 Maureen O'Hara 饰)是一位善良而又迷人的吉普赛女郎,巴黎圣母院的神父克洛德(托马斯·米切尔 Thomas Mitchell 饰)在内心里被她迷得神魂颠倒。卡西莫多(查尔斯·劳顿 Charles Laughton 饰)是教堂的撞钟人,他天生生得一副丑陋异常的容貌,没有人愿意多看他一眼。 神父指使卡西莫多将艾斯米拉达绑架至圣母院,计划却被上尉菲比斯(艾伦·马歇尔 Alan Marshal 饰)扰乱。菲比斯救了艾斯米拉达,得到了她的芳心,可是之后菲比斯遇袭,艾斯米拉达却站到了被告人的席位之上。按照法律艾斯米拉达即将被判处绞刑,然而却是卡西莫多救了她。前者将她藏到了圣母院中,渐渐的,艾斯米拉达在卡西莫多丑陋的外表之下看到了一颗真挚而又善良的心。King Louis XI is a wise and old king and Frollo is the Chief Justice. Frollo gazes on the gypsy girl, Esmeralda, in the church during Fool's Day and sends Quasimodo to catch her. Quasimodo, with the girl, is captured by Phoebus, Captain of the Guards, who frees the girl. The courts sentence Quasimodo to be flogged, and the only one who will give him water while he is tied in the square is Esmeralda. Later, at a party of nobles, Esmeralda again meets both Frollo, who is bewitched by her, and Phoebus. When Phoebus is stabbed to death, Esmeralda is accused of the murder, convicted by the court and sentenced to hang. Clopin, King of the Beggars; Gringoire, Esmeralda's husband; and Quasimodo, the bellringer, all try different ways to save her from the gallows.