In the streets of Verona, another feud breaks out between the servants of the feuding noble families of Capulet and Montague.
Benvolio, a Montague, tries to stop the fight, but becomes embroiled in it himself when Tybalt, a rash Capulet, arrives on the scene.
After the citizens, enraged by the continued violence, backed the warring factions, the ruler of Verona, Prince Aeschylus, tried to prevent further conflicts between the families by ordering the death of anyone who disturbed the peace in the future.
Romeo, Montague’s son, runs into his cousin Benvolio, who had earlier seen Romeo sweeping in a grove of sycamores.
After some prodding from Benvolio, Romeo confesses that he loves Rosaline, a woman who does not return his affections. Benvolio advises him to forget this woman and find another, more beautiful one, but Romeo remains disappointed.
Meanwhile, Paris, a relative of the prince, asks for Juliet’s hand in marriage. Her father Capulet, although pleased with the match, asks Paris to wait two years, as Juliet is not yet fourteen.
Capulet sends off a servant with a list of people to invite to the traditionally held veil and feast. She invites Paris to the feast, hoping that Paris will begin to win Juliet’s heart.
Romeo and Benvolio, still discussing Rosaline, meet a Capulet servant with a list of invitations. Benvolio suggests that they attend, as this will allow Romeo to compare his beloved with the other beautiful women of Verona.
Romeo agrees to accompany Benvolio to the feast, but only because Rosaline, whose name he reads on the list, will be there.
At the Capulet house, young Juliet is talking to her mother, Lady Capulet, and her nurse about the possibility of marrying Paris. Juliet has not yet thought about marriage, but agrees to see Paris during the feast to see if she thinks he might love her.
The feast begins. A sad Romeo follows Benvolio and their interesting friend Mercutio to the Capulet house.
Once inside, Romeo sees Juliet from afar and instantly falls in love with her. He completely forgets about Rosaline.
As Romeo watches Juliet enter, a young Capulet, Tybalt, recognizes him, and is furious that a Montague would sneak into the Capulet feast.
He prepares to attack, but Capulet stops him. Soon, Romeo talks to Juliet, and the two experience a deep attraction. They kiss, not even knowing each other’s names. When he learns from Juliet’s nurse that she is the daughter of Capulet—his family’s enemy—he is distraught.
When Juliet learns that the young man she just kissed is Montag’s son, she is equally disturbed. As Mercutio and Benvolio leave the Capulet estate, Romeo leaps over the garden wall, unable to outrun Juliet.
From his hiding place, he sees Juliet in a window above the garden and hears her calling his name. He calls out to her, and they swear their love.
Romeo rushes to see his friend and confessor, Friar Laurence, who, although surprised by Romeo’s sudden change of heart, agrees to secretly marry the young lovers because he loves them. I see the possibility of ending the old feud between Capulet and Montague.
The next day, Romeo and Juliet meet in Friar Lawrence’s cell and are married. The nurse, aware of the secret, buys a ladder, which Romeo will use to climb to Juliet’s window on their wedding night.
The next day, Benvolio and Mercutio are confronted by Tybalt—Juliet’s cousin—who, still angry that Romeo attended the Capulet’s feast, challenges Romeo to a duet. Romeo appears. Now Tybalt’s relative by marriage, Romeo begs Capulet to stop the battle until he understands why Romeo does not want to fight.
Angered by this plea for peace, Mercutio says he will fight Tybalt himself.
An argument starts between the two. Romeo jumps between the warriors and tries to stop them. Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo’s arm, and Mercutio dies. Romeo, enraged, kills Tybalt.
Romeo flees the scene. Soon, the prince announces his eternal banishment from Verona for his crime.
Friar Lawrence arranges for Romeo to spend his wedding night with Juliet before he has to leave for Mantua the next morning. In her room, Juliet awaits the arrival of her new husband.
The nurse enters, and after some confusion, tells Juliet that Romeo has killed Tybalt. Distraught, Juliet suddenly finds herself married to a man who killed her relative.
But she resettles herself, and realizes that her duty is to her love: to Romeo.
Romeo breaks into Juliet’s room that night, and they finally consummate their marriage and their love.
Morning comes, and the lovers say goodbye, unsure when they will see each other again.
Juliet learns that her father, affected by recent events, now plans to marry her off to Paris in just three days. Unsure of what to do next—unable to reveal to her parents that she is married to Romeo, but unwilling to marry Paris now that she is Romeo’s wife—Juliet seeks advice from her nurse.
She advises Juliet to carry on as if Romeo were dead and marry Paris, who is a better match anyway.
Disgusted by the nurse’s infidelity, Juliet ignores her advice and hurries to Friar Lawrence.
He plans to reunite Juliet with Romeo in Mantua. The night before her wedding in Paris, Juliet must drink a potion that will make her appear dead.
When she is laid to rest in the family’s privacy, the Friar and Romeo secretly take her back, and she is free to live with Romeo, away from her parents’ quarrels.
Juliet returns home to discover that the wedding has been moved up a day, and that she is to be married tomorrow.
That night, Juliet drinks the potion, and the next morning the nurse finds her apparently dead.
The Capulets grieve, and Juliet is buried as planned. But Friar Laurence’s message to Romeo explaining the plan never reaches Mantua.
His mentor, Friar John, is confined to a quarantine house. Romeo only hears that Juliet is dead. He only learns of Juliet’s death and decides to kill himself rather than live without her.
He buys a vial of poison from a reluctant apothecary, then rushes to Verona to take his own life at Juliet’s tomb.
Outside the Capulet crypt, Romeo comes upon Paris, who is laying flowers on Juliet’s grave.
They fight, and Romeo kills Paris. He enters the tomb, sees Juliet’s lifeless body, drinks the poison, and dies with her.
At the same time, Friar Laurence enters and realizes that Romeo has killed Paris and himself.
At the same time, Juliet wakes up. Friar Lawrence hears the clock strike. When Juliet refuses to go with him, he runs away alone.
Juliet sees her beloved Romeo and realizes that he has poisoned himself. She kisses his poisoned lips, and when she does not take his life, his dagger is buried in her chest, falling on his body and dead.
The watch arrives, followed closely by the Prince, Capulets and Montagues. Montague announces that Lady Montague has died of grief over Romeo’s banishment.
Upon seeing the bodies of their children, Capulet and Montague agree to end their long-standing feud and raise the gold statues of their children together in a newly peaceful Verona.