Young Sophie Hatter, who runs her late father's hat shop, encounters by chance the mysterious wizard Howl, who takes a liking to her. This arouses the ire of the Witch of the Waste, who has been seeking Howl's heart for herself, and she curses Sophie, turning her into a crone. As the curse prevents her from telling anyone of her condition, Sophie decides to run away. Along the way, she befriends a sentient scarecrow that she names Turnip Head, and they come across Howl's castle. Once inside, Sophie meets the fire demon Calcifer, who powers the castle and recognizes that Sophie has been cursed. Calcifer offers to break the curse in exchange for Sophie's help in breaking the pact between him and Howl. When Howl appears, Sophie announces that she is the castle's new cleaning lady. As she adjusts to life in the castle, she discovers that the front door is a magic portal leading to several places.
Currently, the land Sophie is living in is at war with its neighbor following the mysterious disappearance of the other realm's Crown Prince Justin, and slowly the war begins to reach the country. Howl receives summons from the King, who orders his various assumed identities to fight in the war. However, Howl fears Madame Suliman, the royal court's magician and his former mentor, and sends Sophie as his mother to decline his participation. At the palace, Sophie runs into the Witch of the Waste, who had previously been expelled from the court many years ago and now seeks to regain the royal house's patronage; instead, Madame Suliman punishes the Witch by draining all of her power, causing her to regress into a senile old woman. Suliman tells Sophie that Howl will meet the same fate if he does not contribute to the war. As Sophie vehemently protests these measures, Suliman comes to realize the true nature of this 'mother'; Howl then arrives to rescue Sophie, with the Witch and Suliman's asthmatic lapdog Heen tagging along. He gives Sophie a magical ring that would guide her to Calcifer, but Suliman begins tracking her to get to Howl.
Sophie learns that Howl transforms into a bird-like creature to interfere in the war, but each transformation makes it more difficult for him to return to human form. Howl shows his appreciation for her by transforming the castle so that it can lead to Sophie's old home as well as Howl's childhood residence, which he gives to Sophie as a gift.
Soon after, Sophie's mother visits the house, and somehow recognizes Sophie despite her old appearance. They then have a happy reunion. However, Sophie's mother is actually under Suliman's threats, and leaves behind a bag containing a "spying bug" under her orders. The former Witch of the Waste discovers it and promptly destroys the bug by tossing it into Calcifer. Unfortunately, Calcifer gets sick after eating the bug, rendering him unable to protect the castle from being discovered when Markl opens the windows to air out the Witch's cigar smoke.
A few hours later, the city is carpet-bombed by enemy aircraft while Suliman's henchmen invade the hat shop. After protecting the hat shop from the bombing, Howl transforms and draws the guards away, while Sophie and Calcifer bring the castle to the Wastes. Sophie pulls Calcifer out of the castle to destroy the magic and cut off all ties to the city, so that Howl would not be continually forced to defend them, then moves him back in to create a smaller version of the moving machine so they can rescue Howl. Unfortunately, the Witch of the Waste discovers Howl's heart in Calcifer's diminishing flames, and grabs it. To save her from burning, Sophie douses her and Calcifer with water. The castle breaks apart, and Sophie and Heen are thrown over a cliff.
Sophie recovers in tears, believing that she has killed both Calcifer and Howl, as their lives are interconnected. As she is sobbing, Howl's ring points to the remains of Howl's castle door; she walks through it and finds herself in Howl's past, where she sees Calcifer being caught by a young Howl as a falling star. Howl then makes a pact with the demon that he will give him his heart if he serves him. Sophie is pulled back into present time, but before leaving, she tells Howl to find her in the future.
Back in the present, Sophie finds Howl and realizes that he has been waiting for her all along. When they return to the others, Sophie takes Howl's heart from the Witch and puts it back in his chest. Calcifer returns to his original form and flies away, but returns shortly out of a new-found loyalty to Sophie. The remains of the castle (with everyone still inside) slide down the cliffs, and Turnip Head is forced to almost sacrifice himself to stop the fall. Sophie gives him a kiss, transforming him back into the missing Prince Justin, who had been cursed by a witch.
By now, Sophie has fully transformed back to her youthful self (with the exception of her gray hair), and Howl recovers fully. Though he has come to love Sophie as well, Prince Justin realizes that her love is for Howl and leaves to put an end to the war, as does Suliman, who has been spying on the group. Later, Howl, Sophie, and the others are seen aboard a new, flying castle powered by Calcifer on his free will. The film ends with Howl and Sophie on a balcony sharing a kiss.
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