Opera singer Christine Daaé visits her friend Meg at a music library where they find a song written by a little known composer, Erik Destler, who was allegedly a psychopathic killer in London in the nineteenth century. Destler disappeared the night an opera singer he was obsessed with was found murdered. On further investigation, Christine discovers a charred copy of “Don Juan Triumphant,” Destler’s complete opera. As she sings its opening lines, the binder begins to bleed. However, when Meg yells that the library is closing, Christine is shocked to find the score is clean. The next day, Christine auditions using Destler’s score. Her performance causes even the stage hands to take notice. As she reaches the crescendo, a sandbag comes loose in the flier above the stage and hits her. As she loses consciousness, she hears Destler’s voice calling her to come back to him. When she regains consciousness, Christine is on a nineteenth century London stage with a different “Meg” leaning over her while Joseph, a stage hand, apologizes for dropping the sandbag. La Carlotta, the company’s Diva, lambasts the stage manager for the company’s unprofessionalism and refuses to perform. Meg informs Christine that as Carlotta’s understudy, she might have to step in. Deep below the theatre, a deformed Destler sews skin onto his face and uses makeup up to hide his hideous scars while staring at a photograph of Christine. He climbs to the theatre catwalk where he hears Joseph telling his colleagues it was the “Phantom” who caused the accident that almost killed Christine. Destler follows him to the top of the rigging, stabs the man and tosses the body over the side. Later, standing outside Christine’s window and hidden in the shadows, Destler orders Christine to sing the lead role in the opera. When she finishes, he declares the world will soon hear her. Meanwhile, Martin Barton, owner of the opera, visits Carlotta to present her with a new contract, but Carlotta will only sign if Christine is demoted to the chorus. After Barton leaves in a huff, Carlotta opens an armoire to discover a now-skinless Joseph. She screams so loud she loses her voice. Outside, Barton discusses the theatre’s budget with his partner, Richard Dutton, and complains that he found a monthly debit of three hundred pounds with no receipt. Richard explains this, and a reserved theatre box on opening nights, are payment to the Phantom. They go inside, and are stunned when the stage manager appears on stage to announce Carlotta is being replaced by Christine. Barton is convinced Carlotta is holding out for more money. Although Richard insists Christine’s voice is superior, he goes to speak to Carlotta. Upon reaching the dressing room, he discovers Inspector Hawking viewing Joseph’s skinless body. When his assistant, Davies, blames it on the Phantom, Hawking observes that ghosts do not skin their victims. Upstairs, as the opera Faustus begins, Destler enters his box, careful to remain hidden in the shadows. While watching the performance, Destler recalls playing piano in a brothel. A dwarf appears and offers him the secret of music in exchange for his soul. Destler agrees and the dwarf touches his face, causing it to burn and melt. Explaining the world will love Destler only for his music, the dwarf forces a ring onto Destler’s finger declaring he is wed to the devil. Destler’s thoughts are interrupted when Christine takes the stage and sings. As the audience explodes into applause, Destler leaves the theater and finds a prostitute that looks like Christine. Across town, Christine sups with Richard, explaining that her dead father sent her an “Angel” to teach her to sing. Although she has never seen his face, her angel is why she is so gifted. A few tables away, Barton convinces Harrison, a noted critic, not to praise Christine in his review as he needs to promote Carlotta. Although Harrison thought Christine was brilliant, he agrees to give her a bad review. The next morning, Harrison enters a steam room in a Turkish bath and is confronted by Destler, who is swathed in towels to hide his face. When the critic refuses to change his opinion about Christine, Destler kills him. Distressed by Harrison’s review, Christine visits her father’s grave and cries over her failure. Hearing a violin, she looks up to see Destler playing in the shadows. He tells Christine he is her “angel of music” and if she wishes to fulfill her destiny, she must get into his carriage. Richard arrives at the cemetery, finds the gates locked and calls for Christine. Picking music over love, Christine jumps into the carriage and is driven off. Taking Christine to his rooms beneath the opera house, Destler promises to teach her the “meaning” of music. She finds his unfinished opera and insists he play it for her. She sings along, unaware that a rat catcher in a nearby sewer hears them. When Destler asks how she could know the words, a confused Christine can only say she sang them before. Insisting that Christine is his muse, Destler forces the ring the dwarf gave him onto her finger, declaring she is wed to the music and he is the music. When she leaves, Destler removes his wig, dentures, nose and skin from his scarred face. Meanwhile, Richard finds Hawking and reports Christine’s disappearance. The inspector informs him Destler is living under the opera house, but scoffs at Richard when he is told that, according to legend, the Phantom can only be killed when his music is destroyed. Later, Christine learns of the critic’s death. Fearing for Richard’s safety, she sends him a note requesting he meet her at a masquerade ball that evening. She tries to remove the Phantom’s ring, but finds it will not come off. At the ball, Christine confesses she loves Richard, who leaves to find a coach to take them away, unaware that Destler, dressed as Death, overhears them. Destler cuts into a dance between Barton and Carlotta. Seducing the diva, Destler takes her into another room and strangles her. Hawking arrives at the party and is informed by the rat catcher of the location of Destler’s subterranean lair, just as a buffet is wheeled into the hall. A waiter opens a tureen to reveal Carlotta’s severed head. As the partygoers panic, Destler drags Christine down to his chambers. Throwing her onto his bed, he reveals his true face and tells Christine she can never leave. Hearing his pursuers enter the sewers, Destler locks Christine in his chambers and goes to confront them. He finds the rat catcher and impales him on an exposed rod, then kills a policeman and Davies before returning to his chamber. He lures Richard and Hawking to him by playing the organ. When they arrive, Destler pushes Hawking down a flight of stairs, then puts a knife to Christine’s throat, but Richard shoots it out of his hand. Destler leaps on Christine’s lover, knocking him into candelabra, igniting his clothes. Christine pushes over more candles, setting the chamber’s furnishings on fire, then recovers Richard’s pistol. Destler declares that only love and music are eternal before Christine shoots him. He grabs her hand, but Hawking reappears and shoots him twice in the back. As he falls, Destler accidentally tears the ring from Christine’s finger and watches in horror as she is engulfed in flames. Christine awakens, now in the twentieth century, to find Mr. Foster, the show’s producer who is Destler hidden beneath a latex mask, helping her to her feet. Foster announces he is casting Christine in the leading role for his opera. Later, Foster takes Christine home. While he changes his clothes, Christine finds a score and computer disc of “Don Juan Truimphant.” When she turns on the music, Destler reappears and explains he has been waiting for her to be reincarnated and demands she choose between love and music. She reaches up to embrace him, then tears off his latex mask, revealing his true face, before stabbing him with a nearby knife. She rips up the sheet music and breaks the disc. With his music destroyed, Destler dies.