In ancient times, the forces of man and the gods of the beasts are beginning to clash over the forests and their natural resources. When young Ashitaka, the prince of an isolated village, kills a rampaging boar god, he is afflicted with a curse. In a matter of time it will kill him if he cannot find a cure. So, he travels away from his home to find the cause of the boar god's curse and hatred of humans. There he finds humans fighting not only amongst themselves, but a town of outcasts where the soil is mined for iron. The people of this town are determined to take the resources from the forest near them, but that forest is the home of the forest god, and is protected by the wolf clan. There is also one human who fights with the beasts--San, the Princess Mononoke. Ashitaka seeks only to find answers, but he soon finds himself in the middle of an epic struggle.