Orphaned and alone except for an uncle, Hugo lives in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. Hugo's job is to maintain the station's clocks, but to him, his more important task is to protect a broken automaton and notebook left to him by his late father. Accompanied by the goddaughter of an embittered toy merchant, Hugo embarks on a quest to solve the mystery of the automaton and find a place he can call home.