An unspeakably ugly man hides in the vaults of the Paris Opera. He has two passions: music and the young singer Christine Daaé. To make her the star of the opera, he uses every means at his disposal, and soon he turns the venerable building into a madhouse, because he frightens singers and staff alike. Christine initially succumbs to his courtship until she falls in love with one of her childhood playmates, the viscount de Chagny, and the phantom becomes furious with jealousy.