Once upon a time there was a horrifying ogre who created a large mirror that made everything good and beautiful appear ugly and evil. His evil was so great that he made the mirror fly to the highest point in space only to let it fall and break into millions of small glass fragments on Earth. If one of those fragments reached someone's eyes, they would see everything badly and if the fragment lodged in their heart, it would become as cold as ice.

Years later, in a big city full of houses and people, there lived two very poor children who had a great friendship. They were neighbors and loved each other like brothers. The girl's name was Gerda and the boy's name was Kai. His parents had built enormous flower boxes in the windows of their rooms with the most beautiful rose bushes and delicious vegetables.

Gerda and Kai spent the day sitting in their chairs in front of the window looking at the stems that grew full of vegetables and roses. However, that delight was denied them during the winter, when the windows were obscured by snow and the roses and vegetables slept frozen.

It was then that Kai's grandmother told them the story of the Snow Queen:"Snowflakes are like a swarm of white bees and the Snow Queen is the biggest white bee of all," Grandma said. On winter nights, their swarm flies throughout the city, comes to look through the windows and then freezes in the form of flowers.That same night, Kai watched the snow fall through the window. Suddenly, the flakes joined together forming the white silhouette of the queen. Dazzled by the Snow Queen's beauty, Kai opened the window and a gust of wind blew shards of the evil crystal directly into his eyes and heart. Kai was never the same again.