"Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents' strife..."

The Italian city of Verona is plagued with violence in the streets. The Capulets and the Montagues, two powerful and wealthy houses, have let their rivalry erupt into all-out war. Yet when young Montague heir Romeo sneaks into a Capulet celebration to disrupt it from within, he meets the Capulets' daughter Juliet. The two begin their love affair, doomed from the start, but beautiful enough to transcend fate.