Romeo and Juliet

Verona simmers under a generations-old feud between the Montague and Capulet families. When Romeo Montague crashes a Capulet masquerade ball, he locks eyes with Juliet Capulet across the room. The moment is electric, immediate, and entirely forbidden. By the next afternoon, they are secretly married by Friar Laurence, who hopes their union might end the bloodshed.

That hope shatters within hours. Romeo's friend Mercutio is killed by Juliet's hot-tempered cousin Tybalt, and Romeo retaliates by killing Tybalt. The Prince of Verona banishes Romeo to Mantua. Separated before their wedding night is over, the lovers face an impossible situation. Friar Laurence devises a desperate plan: Juliet will drink a potion that mimics death for forty-two hours, then reunite with Romeo in the family tomb.

The plan unravels when a plague-quarantined messenger fails to deliver the friar's letter to Romeo. Hearing only that Juliet is dead, Romeo buys poison from an apothecary and rushes to her tomb. He drinks the poison just as Juliet stirs awake. She kisses his still-warm lips, then stabs herself with his dagger. Their bodies lie together in the Capulet vault as the grieving families finally reconcile over the price of their hatred. [edit]