The Pied Piper

The film opens with gears turning as a hidden mechanism begins to run while the sun rises over Hamelin. The town is shown as miserly and petty, where wealth and status take precedence over kindness. A new day dawns, foreshadowing the trouble to come.

During the night, a massive rat infestation erupts, gnawing at food stocks and valuables. Fear and chaos spread through Hamelin as the vermin darken the streets. The town's greed and neglect loom over the crisis.

A tall hooded stranger, the piper, appears in the doorway and offers a musical solution to the plague. From the outskirts he watches the town, waiting to be invited to perform. His entrance signals a turning point in the town's fate.

The town leaders convene and agree to hire the piper for 1000 gold coins if he can rid them of the rats. Relieved by the plan, the piper accepts and begins walking through the city, drawing the rats behind him. The city glows with a mix of hope and suspicion as the deal is struck.

The piper leads the rats away from the town toward a dangerous edge. His music lures them through streets toward a cliff and lake where they meet their end. The spectacle marks a grim purge of the infestation.

Meanwhile, in a separate scene, the jeweler tries to seduce a woman in her home. The piper's music interrupts him again, and the jeweler is forced to retreat from the window. His attempt reveals the moral rot within the town's elite.

After the rats have been killed, the piper returns to town along the road. On his way, he again confronts the jeweler, preventing further advances on the woman. The tension between the piper and the town's corrupt leaders grows.

The piper and the woman sit on a bench as he plays a beautiful melody. The performance is animated with paint-on-wood animation, a stylistic departure from the rest of the film. The moment reveals a rare tenderness amid the town's decay.

The piper goes to collect his payment, but the leaders offer only a black button instead of gold. He leaves in anger as the town's greed is exposed. His refusal marks a turning point in their relationship.

That night, the jeweler and his drunken friends break into the woman's house. Although the acts are not shown, the implication is rape and murder. The piper arrives too late to save her and can only close her eyes.

The piper climbs the highest tower to reach the sun machinery and confront Saturn, who guards the hourglass. They exchange a silent agreement that the town's sins must be judged. At the top of the tower, the stage is set for the cataclysmic decision.

Saturn's hourglass runs dry and the gears stop turning, plunging Hamelin into stillness. The sun ceases, and a silent day begins. Then the piper begins to play again and prepares to leave the tower.

As the piper's music fills the streets, the townspeople transform into rats and follow the sound. They leap from the tower and scurry away, the transformed jeweler among them. The city becomes a moonlit procession of fur and fear.

Only an old fisherman remains, watching from afar. The piper's existence vanishes and his cloak is blown away by the wind. The fisherman stands at the edge of the empty town, trying to understand what happened.

The fisherman discovers a lone surviving baby in a house and takes the child away. The baby becomes the last remnant of a purified future, carried toward an uncertain horizon. With the town emptied, the fisherman leaves Hamelin behind with the infant.