It is Paris in the 1930s. An orphan boy named Hugo lives in a train station, maintaining the large clocks as well as repairing a mechanical man (also known as an atomaton). This atomaton is all that Hugo's father left him after he died, and Hugo believes it holds an important message. In order to fix this mechanical man, Hugo steals small parts from George Melies' (Ben Kingsley) toy shop, but cannot find a missing key that...
