Outline by Melissa Hyland
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Howl's Moving Castle is based in a slightly fantasy setting, in that magic 
fantastical creatures and many fairy-tale conventions exist. The heroine is 
Sophie, who lives with her step-mother and two step-sisters after her father 
dies, leaving them his hat-shop. Since they are very poor, the step-mother 
decides it would be best to send to of the daughters away where they can be 
assured of a good start in life. In fairytale convention, the youngest child 
will always suceed best when seeking their fortune, so the youngest daughter 
Martha is sent to learn magic with a friendly white witch, while the middle 
daughter Lettie begins an apprenticeship with the local baker. Sophie, the 
eldest, doesn't have much chance, so she stays on with her mother to help run 
the hat-shop, which she will inherit someday.

However, things don't work out as planned. Martha and Lettie use a spell to 
switch places, since Lettie wants to learn magic and have adventures while 
Martha wants to get married and raise a family. After Sophie discovers this, 
she crosses paths with an evil sorceress who for some reason that is not 
revealed at first, casts a spell on Sophie that turns her into an old woman and 
prevents her from telling anyone about it. Forced to leave the hat shop, Sophie 
goes to find some way of breaking the curse and ends up taking refuge at the 
moving castle (yes, it is a castle that can move about, and also has a door 
that can lead to four different locations). This place belongs to Howl, a 
charming yet seemingly irresponsible wizard with a reputation for chasing 
pretty girls. The castle is powered by Calcifer, a fire demon who lives in the 
hearth and is bound by a contract with Howl. He makes a secret bargain with 
Sophie; he will break the curse she is under, if she can find a way to break 
the contract as it could destroy him and Howl. Sophie takes a position as 
housekeeper and tries to find out what the contract is (Calcifer is also bound 
not to tell her what it is), whilst putting up with Howl's annoying behaviour, 
and there are further complications when he clashes with the evil sorceress.