In 1899 France, a young writer named Christian defies his bourgeois father, leaves his family home and
moves to the seedy, bohemian underworld of Montmartre, Paris. He is taken in by Toulouse-Lautrec
and his entourage, and is drafted to write a nightclub spectacular. Through his relationship with Toulouse, Christian meets
Satine, the most beautiful courtesan in Paris and star of the Moulin Rouge nightclub. He and Satine enter
into a passionate but doomed love affair.