Decades before the events of the movie take place, wealthy socialite Ralph Wilhern has an affair with a servant girl named Clara, but is talked out of marrying her by his disapproving family. Heartbroken, Clara throws herself off a cliff, and her embittered and vengeful witch mother (Michael Feast) curses the Wilherns so that the next daughter to be born into the affluent family will have the face of a pig, a curse only to be lifted when "one of her own kind" learns to love her. For five generations, the Wilherns produce only sons. The curse is seemingly broken after a girl is born within the Wilherns, until it is revealed that the girl is not a full blooded Wilhern, but a girl born from an affair between Ella Wilhern and another man. It isn’t until the birth of Penelope (Christina Ricci), Ella’s granddaughter and a true-blooded Wilhern, that the curse takes place, much to the distress of her mother Jessica (Catherine O'Hara).