Michael, the young king of a small German realm, promised on his father's deathbed to marry, but instead of choosing any of the daughters of reigning princes his minister makes him visit, Michael looses his heart to Marie, the blond daughter of a simple miller. Worse, the chief minister, who learned her father's secret, hides Marie locked-up in a castle tower, pretending to the king she was killed by wolves in the forest, and threatens her family so she spins gold from straw; so Marie must accept the terms of the magical dwarf Rumpelstilzchen (Rumpelstiltskin in English), who appears when Marie pricks her finger to spin gold thrice for her, but each time demands a prized counterpart- first her beloved Peter's gift, a ring, then her late mother's necklace, finally her firstborn when she will be Michael's queen...