Willy Wonka, an aspiring magician, inventor, and chocolatier, arrives in Europe to establish his chocolate shop at The Galéries Gourmet. Burning through his meager savings, he is coerced to stay at Mrs. Scrubitt's boarding house by her henchman Bleacher and, despite orphan Noodle's warning about the fine print, signs a contract because he is illiterate. To pay them off, Wonka introduces "hoverchocs", chocolates that make people fly, facing opposition from three rival chocolatiers who call the Chief of Police to confiscate Wonka's earnings for disrupting trade and selling without a chocolate store.