In 1846, sailor Anthony returns to London with Sweeney Todd, a man he rescued from the
seas of Australia. Todd hates London but he's coming back anyway because he wants revenge.
Fifteen years ago, he was a mere barber called Benjamin, and he lived happily with his wife
Lucy and their baby. Things got complicated when Judge Turpin became interested in Lucy too, so he
ordered his henchman, Beadle Bamford, to get rid of Todd. That's how Todd got was falsely convicted
and exiled to Australia. Now Todd returns to the building where he used to have his barber shop and
discovers the first floor is now a meat pie shop owned by Nellie, but it isn't doing very well.
Her pies don't taste good, and Nellie laments not being able to buy good meat because it's
expensive. She also suspects that all the stray cats that have been disappearing are being used
by the competition in their own pies. Afterward, Nellie tells Todd that she doesn't rent the room
above her shop because people think it's haunted. After the barber that worked there
left the country, Beadle came to invite Lucy to Turpin's house, where a mascarade party was
being thrown. Turpin made Lucy drink more than she could handle and then took advantage of her.
The resulting trauma made Lucy take arsenic to end it all. Todd doesn't react well to
this news and Nellie immediately realizes he's the barber, so she also informs him that Turpin
has adopted Todd's daughter as his own. Hearing Todd express his wishes for revenge, Nellie takes
him to the shop above hers, where she's hidden Todd's straight razors. They are decorated with
real silver, but she never sold them - she doesn't say why, but it's clear she has a crush on Todd.
Meanwhile, Anthony is wandering around town, but his attention is pulled from the city map when he
hears a beautiful voice singing. In a building across the road, Todd's daughter Johanna is sad
about the fact she's never allowed to go outside and feels like a caged bird, unaware that Turpin
spies on her through a hole in the wall. Anthony sees her at the window and falls in love with her,
but while he's considering approaching her, Johanna leaves her spot. There's a beggar woman
wandering around and Anthony takes the chance to ask about Johanna, so the woman explains
who the girl is and how Turpin will punish Anthony if he tries to trespass to see her.
Her words aren't enough to scare Anthony though, and he's already thinking of ways
to steal Johanna when the house door suddenly opens and Turpin appears to invite Anthony in.
At first, Turpin pretends to be interested in chitchat, but soon he shows his true colors:
he knows Anthony has gandered at Johanna and promises to kill him if he ever comes by again.
Afterward, Beadle throws Anthony on the streets and hits him with his cane, repeating the threat
of death for next time. Back to Todd, he's being taken by Nellie to the main street, where every
Thursday, Italian barber Adolfo Pirelli does a little presentation to show off his skills.
First, his assistant Tobias comes out to sell a hair growth elixir to the audience, showing his
long blond hair as proof. This audience includes Beadle, and Todd wants to go after him, but Nellie
reminds him they need to be careful. Instead, the duo concentrates on denouncing the elixir until
an angry Adolfo comes out to confront whoever is insulting his amazing product. Todd doubles
down on his denouncing and challenges Adolfo to a shave-off to prove who truly is the best barber
in the city. Adolfo accepts after he sees Todd's old razors, and Beadle gladly joins as the judge
when Todd asks him to as part of his secret plan. Beadle's rules are simple: the fastest, smoothest
shave is the winner. Adolfo makes a whole show out of his shaving, all this fanfare only gets him to
slow down and lose against Todd's quick and smooth shaving technique. Pretending to be honorable,
Adolfo accepts his loss but then violently takes it out on Tobias, which makes Nellie feel bad
for the poor boy. Some people in the audience are impressed by Todd's skill and ask if he
has a shop, so Nellie gives them her address, already planning to open the barbershop again.
Todd takes the chance to thank Beadle for his fair judgment and invites him to have a free shave at
his shop, an invitation that Beadle promises to accept later in the week. In the meantime,
Anthony continues to walk by Johanna's house without caring about the potential danger.
Johanna appreciates his perseverance and decides to open the window to throw a key at him without
knowing Turpin is seeing all this through the peephole. As days pass, Todd gets more anxious
because Beadle doesn't show up as promised, so Nellie has to remind him to be patient.
Their chat is suddenly interrupted by Anthony, who has come to ask for Todd's help. He's planning
to use the key to sneak inside Johanna's house while Turpin is at work, but he needs a place to
hide her until he finds a safe way to escape from London. Todd accepts to hide Johanna in the shop
for as long as necessary. A few moments later, Adolfo and Tobias come to the shop to see Todd.
Knowing this may end up badly, Nellie takes Tobias to her shop and shares some food with him.
Tobias is incredibly hungry and devours the nasty pies after taking off his blond wig, proving that
Adolfo is nothing but a fraud. Meanwhile, Adolfo has a chat with Todd about his true intentions. He
drops the fake Italian accent and reveals his real identity: his name is Davy, and when he was a kid,
he worked as Todd's assistant. He recognized the unique silver razors as soon as he saw them,
and now he wants to blackmail Todd: if he doesn't share half his profits with him,
Adolfo will tell Beadle who Todd really is. Refusing to have his plans of revenge messed with,
Todd hits Adolfo with a kettle until he kills him. Downstairs,
Tobias remembers Adolfo has an appointment with the tailor and rushes into the barber
shop right after Todd has finished hiding the body inside a trunk. When Todd tells him Adolfo left,
Tobias decides he should wait for his master there to avoid getting hit later, so Todd has to
resort to offering the kid gin to convince him to go back to Nellie. After the child is gone,
Todd checks the trunk because he's noticed Adolfo isn't actually dead, using his razor to finish him
for good. After a day in the courthouse, Turpin walks home with Beadle's company and takes the
chance to share some news: he's decided to marry Johanna to protect her from the outside world.
The thing is, she isn't enthusiastic about the idea, and Turpin doesn't know why.
Beadle points out that appearance is important to women and Turpin isn't looking his best,
so he should start by getting a good shave and some cologne, recommending Todd for the job.
At the shop, Nellie keeps Tobias distracted with the gin while checking on Todd,
causing her to discover the body. At first, she freaks out, thinking Todd has gone crazy, but
when Todd mentions the blackmailing she quickly changes her mind and steals Adolfo's purse.
Todd wants to kill Tobias too, but Nellie refuses, explaining she's decided to keep the kid as her
assistant. Before they can discuss what to do with Adolfo's body, Todd sees Turpin approaching,
so Nellie leaves and Todd hides the blood stains on his sleeve with a jacket. Turpin enters the
shop and demands a shave good enough to impress his ward, which clearly irritates Todd yet he
manages to keep up his professional manners for the sake of the plan. He invites Turpin
to sit at his chair and begins shaving to trick Turpin into a false sense of security.
However, when he's about to strike, Anthony bursts into the shop to tell Todd everything
is ready for eloping with Johanna tonight. His presence obviously angers Turpin, who insults
Anthony and swears to take Johanna away so nobody can steal her. Before leaving, he insults Todd as
well for keeping such companies and promises to never come back to this shop. Seeing his revenge
plan failing before his eyes, a furious Todd yells at Anthony and kicks him out, ignoring his please
for help. After Anthony leaves, Nellie comes up and tries to comfort Todd, but there's no use:
now that his thirst for revenge can't be satiated and that his daughter will never return to him,
darkness has completely taken over his heart. Todd thinks everyone deserves to die, so he'll practice
on the innocent throats of his clients until he gets to have a go at Turpin again. Nellie
is supportive, but there's still one problem: the bodies. While sharing some gin, the duo discusses
their options, and Todd thinks they should wait until dark to bury Adolfo somewhere. However,
Nellie remembers her competition's success with the cats and gets an idea: she can use all the
bodies to make pies that she can sell for cheap because she won't be paying for meat anymore.
Todd loves this idea and promises to kill every client he gets for Nellie to use. In the meantime,
Turpin finds Johanna packing, which confirms Anthony's story. Disappointed by her actions,
Turpin decides to send her away, threatening her with violence if she doesn't cooperate. Outside,
Anthony watches as Johanna is put in a carriage and decides to run after it, ignoring the comments
Turpin throws at him. Following the carriage turns out to be a good idea because eventually,
it takes Anthony to Johanna's new home: an asylum. Back in the shop, Todd creates a mechanism that
allows him to tilt the barber chair and open a trapdoor through which the bodies slide down
and reach Nellie for making pies. This is the beginning of a very successful business: Nellie's
new pies are incredibly popular in town, but the cooking creates a nasty smoke that leaves through
the shop's chimney. The beggar woman notices this and becomes certain something wicked is happening.
She tries to enter the shop many times to find out the truth, but whenever Nellie sees her,
she makes Tobias kick the beggar out. Nellie is incredibly happy with this new life,
she has a successful business and a boy she considers her son. The only thing missing is love,
and she wants Todd to be that love. She's already planned lots of things for their future, but Todd
pays no attention to her ramblings because his thoughts are still obsessed with only one thing:
finding a way to reach Turpin. Nellie points out Todd can barely remember what Lucy looks like
anymore, so he should really move on. Sometime later, Anthony arrives at the shop to tell Todd
about Johanna and the asylum. The place is a fortress and Anthony can't find a way to get in,
but Todd considers this good news. The asylum is the place where wigmakers get their hair,
since doctors cut it off the patients to sell. The plan is to pass Anthony as a wigmaker's
apprentice, that way he'll gain access to the rooms and be able to finally steal Johanna.
Todd also has a little job for Tobias, although Nellie doesn't like involving the kid in this.
He's writing a letter that Tobias will take to Turpin, saying he wants to apologize for their
last encounter and explaining someone will steal Johanna later in the evening. If Turpin comes
by his shop, Todd will return Johanna to him. When Tobias returns from delivering the letter,
he approaches Nellie for a little chat. He thinks Todd is dangerous and swears to protect Nellie no
matter what. Trying to distract him from the incoming danger, Nellie gifts Tobias a coin
for sweets, but Tobias freaks out when he notices she has Adolfo's purse. The kid wants to go to the
police, causing Nellie to improvise in the only way she can think of: she offers Tobias to finally
show him how to make the pies so he can help in the shop. Nellie takes Tobias to the basement,
blaming the bad smell on the sewers grill before showing him how to use the oven and the grinder.
Then she leaves the boy working with the excuse she has things to do, but she locks the door to
keep Tobias trapped inside. Meanwhile, Anthony is allowed inside the asylum with no issues thanks to
the wigmaker story. He expresses the need for blond hair and chooses Johanna for her shade,
so when the doctor goes to get her, Anthony takes out a gun to make him back up. He takes Johanna
and leaves with her, telling the other girls they can do whatever they want with the doctor.
The girls appreciate this and don't hesitate to attack the man in revenge for everything he's done
to them. Back in the shop, Todd and Nellie are discussing what to do with Tobias when they're
interrupted by Beadle, who has come to check the chimneys after receiving many complaints about
the smoke. Todd distracts him by offering a free shave, unaware that the beggar woman is watching
all this from afar. Meanwhile, Tobias has a pie fresh from the oven and finds a finger inside.
He also begins noticing the remains of the other victims. His suspicions are confirmed
when Beadle's body slides through the trap door, causing him to freak out and begin shaking the
door as he asks to be released. However, when Nellie and Todd go to check on him a moment later,
they don't find him anywhere, thus they go down the sewers to find him. At that moment,
Anthony arrives with Johanna, who has disguised herself as a boy. Anthony promises to run away
together and make her happy, but first, he needs to find Todd to finish the plan, meaning Johanna
must wait for them in the barbershop. The beggar woman enters the shop as well looking for Beadle,
causing Johanna to hide inside the trunk. Todd comes in next, and the beggar woman
tries to warn him about Nellie's evil ways, although she also thinks Todd looks familiar.
But there's no time to listen to her story - Turpin is approaching and Todd needs to get ready,
so he kills the beggar and throws her into the trapdoor. Then, Turpin arrives at the shop,
and Todd promises Johanna is on her way to reunite with him. Turpin wants to be ready for her and
accepts a shave, and now Todd finally gets his chance for revenge: after revealing his real name,
he kills Turpin at last. Johanna sees all this and when Todd notices her, he thinks she's a boy,
causing him to consider killing her as well. However, he suddenly hears Nellie screaming,
so Todd tells Johanna to forget his face before going downstairs to find out what's going on.
It turns out Turpin still has a bit of life left in him and tries to grab Nellie's dress,
but he dies right after she's done screaming. At that moment, Nellie notices the beggar woman
is there too and tries to hide her before Todd sees her. Unfortunately, Todd chooses that moment
to enter the room. At first, he doesn't suspect anything and asks Nellie to open the oven to go
through business as usual. But when the light from the fire falls on the beggar's face, Todd realizes
she's actually Lucy, who went mad after Turpin's abuse. Nellie points out she never lied, she only
told Todd that Lucy drank poison but never said she died from it. She only did this because she
loves him, but this isn't enough to calm down Todd's fury, so he pushes Nellie into the oven.
Afterward, Todd drops his razor and sits by Lucy's side, lamenting his actions. That's when Tobias
comes out of the sewers, retrieves the razor, and uses it to kill Todd in revenge for Nellie.
Then he escapes before the police come over, leaving Todd next to his wife to die.