The Cinderella Story: The Story Of Cinderella

The film opens in a tiny kingdom, and shows us a chateau, wherein lives a widowed gentleman, and his daughter, Cinderella. Feeling that his daughter needed "a mother 's care," he remarried a woman with two daughters of her own, named Anastasia, and Drizella.

However, upon the death of Cinderella 's father, her Stepmother reveals a cruelty and jealous towards Cinderella 's charms and beauty.

The Stepmother chooses to focus all her attention to that of her own daughters, leading to a downfall of the family estate. The chateau soon falls into disrepair, and the family fortune is spent up on the two Stepdaughters.

In the end, Cinderella is forced into becoming a servant in her own household, attending to her Stepfamily, and living in a high

However, the Godmother cautions her that she all these things will only last until the final stroke of midnight, when everything will turn back to normal. Cinderella then quickly boards her coach, and is taken to the Castle.

Meanwhile, the ball is in full-swing, with the Prince greeting every eligible, invited maiden in the Kingdom. Though the King and Grand Duke watch, the Prince himself is rather bored by the whole thing. However, as he officially greets the Stepsisters, he sees a girl having just entered, and goes over to her. This is immediately seen by the King, who demands a Waltz begin to play, sure that his son has found his bride. The King then retires for the evening, leaving the Grand Duke to supervise the two.

The Prince then leads Cinderella out into the Palace Gardens, where they dance and wander. However, when the clock suddenly strikes midnight, Cinderella flees. The Grand Duke attempts to stop her, but she flees down the Palace 's entry steps, leaving behind a glass slipper. A series of Palace Horsemen attempt to catch the coach, but eventually, the 12th chime of midnight strikes, Cinderella 's entourage returns to normal, and rush off the main road, as the Horsemen 's steeds trample what 's left of

Back at the Palace, the Grand Duke awakens the King regarding what has happened. At first incensed that the maiden his son danced with has gotten away, the Duke claims that his son still wants to find and marry her. With the glass slipper the only clue, the King sets the Duke on a mission to have the slipper tried on every girl in the Kingdom, setting the Duke to task before the sun rises!

The next morning, Cinderella 's Stepmother quickly demands she help her daughters immediately. The two Stepsisters are slow to wake up, when the Stepmother tells of the proclamation, and how the girl that was seen dancing with the Prince is being searched for. The girls boredly wonder what this has to do with them, when their mother tells of the slipper, and how all one of them has to do is fit it, to become the Prince 's bride!

However, the thought of marrying the Prince sidetracks Cinderella, who drops the load of laundry the Stepsisters give her, and begins to 'dance ' off back to her room to get dressed. However, the Stepmother follows her up the stairs, and locks the door, with Cinderella pleading