Plot

Fearless optimist Anna teams up with rugged mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven in an epic journey to find Anna's sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter.

Fearless optimist Anna teams up with rugged mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven and sets off on an epic journey to find her sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom. From the outside Elsa looks poised, regal and reserved, but in reality she lives in fear as she wrestles with a mighty secret: she was born with the power to create ice and snow. It's a beautiful ability, but also extremely dangerous. Haunted by the moment her magic nearly killed her younger sister Anna, Elsa has isolated herself, spending every waking minute trying to suppress her growing powers. Her mounting emotions trigger the magic, accidentally setting off an eternal winter that she can't stop. She fears she's becoming a monster and that no one, not even her sister, can help her.—DeAlan Wilson for ComedyE.com

Anna, sister of the queen Elsa, sets off on a dangerous, mysterious journey to bring back Elsa, who has run off after imposing an endless winter upon her hometown. Anna must overcome challenges and meet new friends, such as Olaf, an adorable talking snowman, and face her charming boyfriend to save the kingdom from not only Hans, but from eternal winter.—Frozenfin

When their kingdom becomes trapped in perpetual winter, fearless Anna joins forces with mountaineer Kristoff and his reindeer sidekick to find Anna's sister, Snow Queen Elsa, and break her icy spell. Although their epic journey leads them to encounters with mystical trolls, a comedic snowman, harsh conditions, and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff bravely push onward in a race to save their kingdom from winter's cold grip.—Jwelch5742

After an inadvertent mistake, Princess Elsa of Arendelle and Anna, her younger sister, go their separate ways. As a result, Elsa, a powerful conjurer of snow and ice, holes up in her ice palace to keep her ever-growing gift, or curse, at bay. However, conflicting emotions and bottled-up feelings threaten to plunge the enchanting realm into eternal winter. Now it's up to Anna to save the day with a fearless team of unlikely allies: the kind Sámi ice-harvester Kristoff, his trusty reindeer companion Sven, and Olaf, the cheerful snowman. But love is fragile. Can things work out for the once close-knit sisters?—Nick Riganas

In a winter landscape, ice harvesters use saws and hooks to cut blocks of ice from a lake, chanting as they work about how ice is a powerful force that's both beautiful and dangerous. They load the ice blocks onto their sled and ride off. They follow the Northern Lights through the sky, before panning down on a stave castle, located on the shores of a Scandinavian fjord, ringed in by cliffs.

Elsa (Idina Menzel), princess of Arendelle, possesses the ability to create ice and snow. Elsa and her sister Anna (Kristen Bell) decide to play in the winter snow and create a snowman. At Anna's urging, Elsa waves her hands, conjuring up a snow crystal, which she then shoots into the air. It explodes, raining snow down on them. To enhance the winter playground, she then stomps her foot, covering the entire floor with ice. They create a snowman that she nicknames Olaf, who likes warm hugs. The girls play gleefully with Olaf until Anna makes a leap Elsa wasn't prepared for and the blast of power meant to create a pile of snow hits Anna in the head, knocking her out and turning several strands of her hair white.

King Agnarr of Arendelle (Maurice LaMarche) and Queen Iduna (Jennifer Lee) seek help from trolls led by Grand Pabbie (Ciaran Hinds). Agdar and his wife hastily load both girls onto their horses and ride at full speed into the mountains.

The trolls heal Anna and remove her memories of her sister's magic. Grand Pabbie observes that Anna is lucky she was hit in the head, as a hit to the heart would have been fatal. He advises the family that it might be best if Elsa doesn't use her powers around Anna. Grand Pabbie warns Elsa that her powers will grow, and although they are beautiful, they will be a great risk to her if she cannot learn to control them, as fear will be her greatest enemy.

The royal couple then isolate the family in the castle and teach Elsa to suppress her powers. The palace is closed to most visitors. Staffing is reduced to a minimum. Traumatized Elsa spends most of her time in her room, afraid of hurting her sister again. Anna, meanwhile, can't understand why her sister is shutting her out. While Anna's life is dull but normal, Elsa's powers grow stronger as she matures. Her father cautions her to wear gloves to keep her icy magic in check, and to conceal her feelings, because strong emotions seem to cause her powers to manifest in unexpected ways. They grow up lonely and estranged from each other. The rift between the two sisters even deepens after their parents are lost at sea in a storm.

When Elsa comes of age (when she turns 21), the kingdom prepares for her coronation and the castle gates open to the public for the first time. Among the dignitaries is the Duke of Weselton (Alan Tudyk), a tradesman who wants to exploit the kingdom for profit. Excited to be allowed out of the castle gates, Anna explores the town and meets Prince Hans (Santino Fontana) of the Southern Isles, and they immediately develop a mutual attraction. Elsa's coronation goes off without incident. Anna's first friendly interaction with Elsa in years brings quite the delightful feeling to Anna, flustered at first, as well as seeing Elsa so happy instead of serious and preserved boosts Anna's confidence, prompting her to continue on with the conversation. The Duke invites Elsa for a dance, but she asks Anna to accompany him instead.

Anna then takes to the floor with Hans. The two of them quickly sneak off to spend the evening together, quickly realizing the mutual attraction between them. The romantic dance eventually leads to an entire date, with the entire night of the young couple being spent bonding. Hans, during their time together, learns of Anna's longing of having someone special in her life, with her sister apparently developing a dislike of being around her by suddenly shutting Anna out one day when they were kids. Hans then promises to never shut Anna out unlike Elsa, much to the princess' absolute joy. During the reception, Prince Hans proposes marriage, and Anna joyfully accepts.

However, when they approach Elsa, the queen forbids such a hasty marriage. Elsa asks to speak to Anna alone in private, likely to finally confess her abilities and why it's not wise to marry someone she just met without causing a scene that would expose her powers, but Anna refuses any private conversation, stating whatever Elsa has to say can be said to both her and Hans.

The sisters argue, and Elsa is unable to control her emotions, culminating in her abilities being exposed to the guests. Elsa makes a violent sweep with her left arm, causing a barrier of sharp icicles to suddenly appear around her.

The whole town is afraid of the sudden display of these awesome powers & tries to shield themselves from Elsa. Elsa pleads for people to step back, moments before another bolt of ice shoots from her hands, nearly hitting the Duke and his guards. She keeps running away, sprinting across the waters of the fjord, her feet forming an ice bridge, and vanishes into the forest on the other side of the fjord.

Panicked, Elsa flees the palace, inadvertently unleashing an eternal winter on the kingdom in her wake. Elsa is accused of witchcraft by the scheming Duke of Weselton. The Duke of Weselton declares they must take action and put an end to Elsa's curse. Anna, however, refuses and volunteers to seek out Elsa herself and make things right, feeling that it's her fault for pushing her.

Elsa flees to the North Mountain. High in the mountains far from Arendelle, Elsa casts off restraint and creates a solitary ice palace, and unknowingly brings to life her and Anna's childhood snowman, Olaf (Josh Gad). It is here she realizes that far away from what she was taught, being on her own, she can begin to control her powers. Elsa changes her confining wardrobe into a shimmering dress, and vows to stay in seclusion, where she feels she can be herself, and harm no one else.

Anna sets out in search of her elder sister, leaving Hans in command. Anna is determined to return her to Arendelle, end the winter, and mend their relationship. Anna staggers through heavy snow to the cabin with the chimney, a place known as Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna, run by its burly owner, Oaken (Chris Williams). Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) staggers in out of the storm, seeking to buy some rope, an ax, and carrots for Sven. Kristoff argues with Oaken over the outrageous price gouging on the items he needs (due to Oaken claiming that there's a supply and demand problem since Kristoff is buying from the almost-bare shelves of the winter department), which ends with Oaken roughly throwing Kristoff out into the snow after Kristoff makes the mistake of calling him a crook.

Kristoff and his reindeer Sven take refuge in a barn on Oaken's property, but are soon met by Anna, who has bought Kristoff's supplies for him, on condition he take her up the North Mountain immediately. Kristoff eventually agrees. On the way the group encounters a pack of wolves and Anna helps Kristoff to fight them off. Kristoff loses his sled when it falls off a cliff, and he is angry as he had just paid it off. Kristoff and the others are now forced to walk.

The group encounters Olaf. Anna doesn't recognize Olaf until he gives his name. This jogs Anna's memories and she remembers building him with Elsa when they were young. Anna and Kristoff mention that they're looking for Elsa so they can restore summertime, and Olaf suddenly grows excited as it's his dream to see what summer is like, and he fantasizes about what he wants to do in the summertime. Anna and Kristoff choose not to reveal that he will melt in the summer heat, but follow him as he leads them to Elsa's ice palace.

When they get to the front door of Elsa's palace, Anna tells Kristoff and Olaf to wait outside, warning them that the last time she introduced Elsa to a guy, she froze everything. Anna and Elsa are reunited, but Elsa still fears hurting her sister. Elsa is surprised to learn that her entire kingdom is frozen, and Anna is surprised in turn to learn that Elsa doesn't know how to stop it. But Anna insists her sister's powers are no reason why they should be so distant. However, having seen Olaf, Elsa flashes back to accidentally hitting Anna in the head with her snow abilities and grows scared, demanding Anna leave.

When Anna tries to persuade her elder sister to return, Elsa becomes agitated and accidentally strikes Anna in the heart with her powers. She then creates a giant snow creature (that Olaf calls Marshmallow) to run the friends out of the ice castle. As they flee, Kristoff notices that Anna's hair is turning white. Kristoff takes her to his family, who happen to be a group of rock trolls and the same ones that saved Anna many years before. Kristoff explains that as he had no family at a young age, the trolls took him and Sven in. Grand Pabbie comes forward and examines Anna but concludes that this time her sister's powers struck her in the heart. They are told that Anna's heart has been frozen, and unless it's thawed by "an act of true love," she will become frozen solid forever. She weakly tells Kristoff that Hans can surely help, and they take off for Arendelle. Believing that only Hans can save her, Kristoff races back with her to Arendelle.

Meanwhile, Hans had gone on a search for Anna. The Duke of Weselton volunteers his two bodyguards and secretly tells them to shoot Elsa if they should encounter her. Hans reaches Elsa's castle and is attacked by Marshmallow. Hans is a skilled warrior and manages to defeat Marshmallow. Meanwhile, Duke's men attack Elsa, who defends herself and prepares to kill them. Hans and his men show up just in time and Hans pleads for her to stop, so she doesn't become the monster people accuse her of being. Elsa settles down a bit at Hans' words, realizing what she's doing. The guy pinned to the wall, still complying with the orders of the Duke, aims his crossbow at Elsa's head and prepares to shoot her. Hans suddenly runs over and deflects the bow. The arrow is released and hits the bolt attaching an icy chandelier to the ceiling, which begins to fall straight for Elsa's head. Elsa tries to run, but the falling chandelier fragments and knocks her unconscious. Hans brings her back to Arendelle after she is knocked unconscious during a skirmish with the Duke's men, shackling her in the dungeon.

When Anna is reunited with Hans and begs him to kiss her to break the curse, Hans refuses. Hans explains that as the youngest of 13 brothers, he had no chance at claiming his family's throne, so he went looking for a royal family he could marry into. Unable to get to Elsa, he made Anna's acquaintance and played on her naivete. He intended to marry her before causing some form of "accident" for Elsa that would clear his path to the throne. However, given Anna's current condition, he plans to simply let her frozen heart overcome her, then stab Elsa, ending the eternal winter.

Leaving Anna to die, Hans goes to speak with the duke of Weselton and several other dignitaries. He claims that Elsa has caused Anna to freeze to death, but before she died, he and Anna recited their wedding vows. This apparently is enough to give him full authority to declare Elsa guilty of treason and sentence her to death.

Elsa freezes her shackles to the point that they shatter, then breaks through the wall to the outside and heads out into the blizzard on the fjord. Meanwhile, far from Arendelle, Kristoff and Sven are trekking away when Sven urges Kristoff to go back. Kristoff claims he has no need to, but as they look back at Arendelle, a mysterious swirling cloud of snow begins to engulf the kingdom. The two then take off towards the growing danger.

Olaf finds Anna and reveals Kristoff is in love with her. Olaf recalls how Kristoff did so much to get her back to save her, when the wind blows a window open. Olaf goes to close it, but in the distance, he sees Kristoff and Sven charging towards them.

The two then travel together onto the fjord to find Kristoff. Hans confronts Elsa and tells her Anna is dead because of her actions. In Elsa's despair, the storm suddenly stops, giving Kristoff and Anna the chance to reach each other. However, Anna, seeing that Hans is about to kill Elsa, throws herself between the two and subsequently freezes solid, blocking the blow.

As Elsa grieves for her sister, Anna begins to thaw as her decision to sacrifice herself to save her sister constitutes "an act of true love." It is then that Elsa realizes what can end the winter: love. And with this realization, she dissipates the ice and snow, and summer returns to the kingdom. Olaf is found, and before he can melt, Elsa creates a perpetual snow flurry above his head, which lets him survive the summer heat.

Hans is sent back to the Southern Isles to face punishment for his crimes against the royal family of Arendelle, and the Duke is told that Elsa has cut off trade with Weselton. Elsa appoints Kristoff the royal ice deliverer, and he and Anna share a kiss. Anna and Kristoff share a kiss, and the two sisters reconcile, with Elsa promising never to shut the castle gates again.