Chihiro woke up from her nap. From the looks of it, her family was still on the road towards their new home. She heard her mother complaining about how their new home was in the middle of nowhere and that she would have to go to the next town to shop. Her father simply said that they just had to get used to it. He called out to Chihiro again, this time pointing out her new school. Chihiro sat up, took a glance, stuck out her tongue at the school and grumbled that her old school was better. Her mother told her not to complain, saying that it was a big day for all of them. Looking at her bouquet, Chihiro noticed that the flowers had started to wither and, panicking, told her mother about it. It was nothing, said her mother, and told Chihiro that some water would perk them right up. Dejected, Chihiro sat back, grumbling about how her first bouquet ever was a farewell bouquet. When her mother mentioned about the rose she once got for her birthday, Chihiro argued that a rose was not a bouquet. Her mother calmed her down, winding down the back window for her as well as they continued their journey.

They came to a stop at the end of the concrete road. From where they were, it continued along a dirt path instead, and Chihiro's father wondered if they had taken a wrong turn. Looking around, her mother pointed out their house on top of the hill, the one with a blue roof. They had taken a wrong turn after all, and Chihiro's parents discussed on whether to turn back or explore further. Chihiro's pleas to turn back were in vain; her father had decided to drive on.

Chihiro had noticed some small houses on the ground. Her mother told her that they were shrines where people pray to the spirits. The road got extremely bumpy after that but Chihiro's father did not slow down one bit, causing his wife to get very worried. Chihiro was not having a nice time at the back either, with all the boxes and stuff. A large stone statue of a grinning figure peeped out from behind the trees.

If not for another stone statue in front of a tunnel, they probably would not have stopped at all. Chihiro's father had to step hard on the brakes to prevent the car from crashing into the statue, stopping merely inches from the figure. He looked out to look at the surroundings. There was a board far above the tunnel. He got out to take a closer look in the tunnel, which was too small to drive through. He observed from the plaster walls that it was pretty new. Both Chihiro and her mother followed suit, although Chihiro was extremely unwilling to go any further. She shouted and pleaded and made a very sulky face, a complete contrast to the smiling stone statue she was standing beside.

Again her parents decided to go forward. Chihiro's mother told her to wait in the car since she did not want to follow, then walked on. Chihiro shouted again to no avail. By then, the statue was seriously freaking her out and she ran after her mother and grabbed her hand very tightly.

The tunnel took them to a waiting room of some sort. Benches stood everywhere around the room and there was even a water fountain. From where they were, they even heard the train, which means it was very near to a railway track.

Moving on, the burst into the sunshine once more in a large field. Chihiro's father told them that it was one of the many theme parks built in the 90's. However, most closed down soon after, brought down by the economy. Chihiro begged to return to their car but her parents were not listening and simply walked on. Chihiro shouted again; this time, a strong gust blew at her from behind, as though urging her on, followed by a moaning sound. She took one long look at the tower where they emerged from and ran towards her parents.

They stopped by a partially built river when Chihiro's father started sniffing the air. Obviously, he smelt something and, following his nose, walked towards the buildings nearby. If food was cooking, then the park was probably still open. He led his family between alleyways and up staircases. Strangely, all the shops the saw along the way were restaurants. Even stranger was the fact that they were all empty.

Chihiro's father's nose led him to an eatery. Calling over his wife and Chihiro, he entered the eatery to see who was running the stall. Curiously, there was no one, even though food was served and more seems to be cooking still. His wife entered after him and sat down, deciding to eat first and pay when the owner returns. Chihiro argued that the owners were going to be really mad if they find out. To that, her father simply assured her of his presence and of his cash and credit cards.

Chihiro's calls to her parents fell on deaf ears. Giving up, she left the eatery to explore on her own. Her walks took her to a large building across a bridge. For a moment, Chihiro was mesmerized. Then the sound of a train traveling below the bridge shifted her attention and she looked over the bridge to look at it.

Suddenly, Chihiro was aware of another presence. She turned around and saw a boy standing a distance behind her. Looking worried and angry at the same time, he demanded to know what she was doing in a place like this. Apparently, it was not a safe place, especially after dark. The sun had begun to set and lights seemed to turn on by itself. The boy hurried her off while he distracts "them". Putting two fingers together, he blew out some strange petal-like objects that dances in the air.

In the meantime, Chihiro was having trouble finding her way in the dark. The boy's words still rang in her head as she ran to find her parents. The streetlights had begun to light themselves, and so do the shops lining the alleyways. Dark shadows begun appearing everywhere as Chihiro ran.

She finally reached the stall where her parents were eating. She begged her father to go home, or who she thought was her father. As the figure turned to look at her, she saw to her horror that she was talking to a pig dressed like her father. The pig knocked over some cutlery as it sniffed out more food. Chihiro backed away in horror and disgust as she watched the pig. A shadow in the shop appeared and whipped the pig, sending it crashing on the floor. This broke the spell and Chihiro scurried out of the shop.

Now in the open, she shouted in vain for her parents as she ran back to where they had came from, almost running into a couple of spirits along the way. As she ran down the steps towards the exit, her feet met with water and Chihiro backed away. Looking ahead, she realized that the field she and her family had crossed was now a wide river. By then, Chihiro could no longer understand what was happening anymore and she collapsed onto the ground in a crouching position, telling herself that everything was just a dream and begged for it to go away. As she did so, her body steadily began to turn transparent. Holding out her hands, Chihiro could even see boats crossing the river through her hands.

One of the boats docked near to where Chihiro was. The gangway opened up and mysterious faces began appearing from each and every room. As the faces cross the gangway, robes materialized from the masks and it was clear that they were spirits. Once again, Chihiro ran off in a panicked state.

Later, the boy Chihiro met on the bridge found her against a wall, hidden from view. He tried to persuade her to eat a berry, saying that unless she ate something from his world, she would disappear forever. Chihiro tried to push him away, then turned around sharply as she looked in horror as her hand passed right through the boy. Undeterred, the boy pushed the berry into her mouth. He assured her that she would not turn into a pig like her parents. When Chihiro had swallowed the berry, she reached out to touch the boy's hand as requested and found that she could touch him. Relieved, he was about to bring Chihiro away from the place when something caught his attention.

In the sky, a bird with an old woman's head circled the air above them for some time before finally flying away. The boy told her that it was looking for her and that they must hurry. Unfortunately, Chihiro's legs were stuck to the ground as a result of a spell. After telling Chihiro to take a deep breath, the boy put his hand above Chihiro's legs and uttered a spell to free her, then pulled her away from the place as quickly as possible.

They arrived at the bridge soon after. Spirits, deities and gods of all forms were crossing the bridge, greeted by the welcoming committee. The boy told Chihiro that they were going to cross the bridge but while on the bridge, Chihiro must not breathe lest they find out that a human was present amongst them. A single breath, no matter how small, will break the spell and everyone will be able to see her. On his cue, Chihiro took a deep breath and held it. One of the spirits who was standing in the middle of the bridge seemed to be staring at Chihiro.

They were nearing the end of the bridge and Chihiro could hardly hold her breath any longer, urged on only by the boy. However, a frog came up to welcome the boy and they had to stop just near the edge of the bridge. Chihiro let out a gasp of surprise and took in a short breath at the same time. Unfortunately, that moment of relieve came with a price; the frog exclaimed in surprise and caught the attention of everyone. The boy quickly put a spell on the frog to immobilize him and, grabbing Chihiro by the wrist, flew past everyone to a small door. A commotion broke out everywhere else in the building.

Behind the building, Chihiro apologized for breathing. Instead the boy congratulated her for being able to hold her breath for so long. Now he was going to tell her how to rescue her parents and escape back into her world. Putting a hand on Chihiro's forehead, he conjured up images in her head as he explained.

When the commotion dies down, Chihiro was to leave by the back door leading to a flight of staircase. At the foot of it should be an entrance to the boiler room. Kamajii, the boiler-keeper, works there. In this world, those who do not work will be turned into animals by Yubaaba, so Chihiro has to ask for work. She will be refused and excuses will be made to distract her but she must insist until she gets one. When a chance comes up, she will be able to save herself and her parents. It will be hard but she has to endure it to survive. The boy assured Chihiro that he was on her side.

Chihiro asked him how he knew her name in the first place. Smiling, the boy told her that he had known her for a long time, although how is not known. He also told her his name: Haku.

Getting up, he entered into the building as if nothing had happened. Chihiro, all alone once again, waited for a moment before making her move.

Opening the door, Chihiro finds herself at the very top of a very steep flight of stairs that continues very far down. Gulping, Chihiro squatted down and descended step by step very slowly, not having the courage to walk down. She slipped only a few steps later. Realizing that she would never reach the bottom of the stairs if she continued that way, she turned and faced forward and put her foot down on the next step, making sure it was steady before she actually stood up. She was about to take another step when the plank broke under her foot. Sliding down a couple of steps, the momentum sent her sprinting down the steps, screaming all the way before she ran smack into a wall at the bottom of that fight of stairs. Panting from both the workout and the fear, she took a moment to recover. Above her, one of the workers, a frog, open a window to take a puff of smoke. Slowly, she inched her way around the wall and continued.

At the very bottom, Chihiro found the door to the boiler room and entered. As she peeked into the room, she became aware of an old man with multiple limbs attached rolling a grinder as well as small creatures carrying lumps of coal and dumping them into the furnace.

Chihiro stepped back for a moment and bumped against a pipe, releasing steam. The old man banged his hammer on the table in front of him to send the creatures back into the nooks. Coming out, Chihiro had trouble speaking at first. As she approached the old man, he bent down to take a close look at Chihiro. Chihiro burst out her intention of working there in a rather quick manner.

Tags fell from an opening in the ceiling and the old man once again diverted his attention towards his work. Banging his hammer again, he called out the creatures again and ordered them to hurry up and start working. He had not forgotten about Chihiro though, and confirmed his identity as Kamajii, the man Haku had told her to seek. Unfortunately, he also told her that he did not have any work for her. He had all the help he needs with all the dust around that had been turned into the creatures to work for him. Chihiro fell silent and contented herself with watching the sootballs.

One of the sootballs knocked into her foot and started jumping around, angry with Chihiro for standing in its way. As more sootballs started clogging around her foot, Chihiro was forced to move to the back of the room. With a dejected face, she sat down. Once again, she chose a wrong spot to sit. Kamajii, with his telescopic arms, extended them towards Chihiro. Waving her aside, he opened a drawer and took a bunch of straw-like herbs. He reached far up and took a different bunch of herbs and added those to his grinded pulp.

A sootball came out from a nook carrying a lump of coal like the others. However, it lost its balance and the lump of coal dropped heavily on top of it. Chihiro quickly picked up the lump of coal to free the sootball. Being dust, it was unharmed, although very dazed, and scrambled into where it had emerged, leaving Chihiro holding the load, not knowing what to do with it. That was solved easily; Kamajii ordered her to continue what she had started. And so, with no choice, Chihiro lugged the heavy lump of coal towards the furnace. The sootballs made way for her as she slowly made her way to the furnace. For the first time ever, Chihiro stared into the burning fires. She waited for an opportunity before dumping the lump of coal, then retreated from the heat, panting and sweating.

Seeing their chance, one by one the sootballs purposely dropped their load on top of themselves in the hope that she would carry it for them. Kamajii was not very pleased and started banging his hammer again. He scolded Chihiro for taking other's jobs, saying that if the sootballs do not work, the spell will wear off and they will turn back into ordinary dust. Kamajii met resistance from the sootballs who defended Chihiro, piling up against her legs as they argued with Kamajii. They would have continued arguing if a girl had not come in with their dinner.

Seems like it was not really uncommon for them to be arguing. After passing Kamajii his dinner, she started sprinkling star-like candy for the sootballs. As she did so, she saw Chihiro standing against the wall and immediately pulled a face of horror. Pointing at Chihiro, she demanded to know how she had gotten to be in the boiler room and told Kamajii that he was going to be in a lot of trouble. Undaunted, Kamajii nonchalantly said that Chihiro was his granddaughter seeking work. Unfortunately, he had no vacancy for her and asked the girl, Lin, to take Chihiro to Yubaaba since she controls all the workers anyway. Lin was not very willing to go and risk her life on the line but Kamajii managed to persuade her with a "quality" gecko. She reluctantly relented and grabbed the gecko while emptying the tray of star candy.

Looking at Chihiro, she asked her for her name, then scolded her for not being more respectful in her answer. She told her to hurry up and follow her. Chihiro removed her shoes and picked them up, only to be scolded by Lin once again, telling her that there was no need to bring her shoes or her socks for that matter. When Chihiro bent down to crawl through the door, Lin scolded her yet again for not thanking Kamajii. Chihiro knocked her head on the low ceiling as she turned around to thank Kamajii, who gave her a thumbs-up and said "Good luck."

Leading Chihiro through the building was not exactly easy with all the workers in the kitchen, alleys and elevators. On reaching a certain floor, a god (Oshirakami) stood before them. Slowly he pointed a finger in the up direction. Grinning uncomfortably, Lin told it that the elevator was out of service, then quickly led Chihiro away. The god followed suit. Chihiro told Lin that it was following them but was told not to gawk.

At another elevator, Chihiro hid behind Lin against a corner. When the door opened, she was pushed further against the wall to avoid being seen by others. Not being seen unfortunately does not mean not giving off a scent and the frog worker that was leading his guests smelt Chihiro. Chihiro was quickly pushed into the elevator as the white god entered so that she was hidden.

Sniffing at Lin, the frog recognized the smell as human and asked Lin what it was that she was hiding. Using the gecko Kamajii had given her earlier as a decoy, she dangled it in front of the frog as he drooled at the sight of it and begged incessantly for it. Lin called out to any one who was going up to pull down the lever. She was talking to Chihiro, of course, who got the message. Squeezing herself past the fat body of the Oshirakami, she had to really stretch to pull the lever. As the door closes, Lin stuffed the gecko into her mouth, much to the disappointment of the frog worker.

The door opened again at one of the floors leading to the guests' rooms, which seems to be neither the god's nor Chihiro's destination. It pulled the lever down to ascend once more. Along the way, Chihiro once glanced up at the god. When it glanced back, she quickly looked away again.

The door opened once more, this time at the top floor; Yubaaba's room. Both the god and Chihiro stepped out and looked around. The god stepped back in, bowed at Chihiro who bowed back, and descended.

Yubaaba's room was just outside the elevator to the right. Chihiro tried pulling the handle but it did not even budge. Suddenly, the doorknocker spoke out, scolding her for not even bothering to knock. It also made fun of Chihiro's small built before the door opened. A female voice inside called out to her to enter. Chihiro hesitated, so the woman used magic to pull Chihiro along the maze of corridors towards her room instead. Chihiro's foot was caught in the carpet and she tripped, rolling over the floor rather untidily, stopping in front of the fireplace.

The room was lavishly decorated. At the back of the room, an old lady sat on the desk, doing paperwork. Three hideous heads made their way towards Chihiro, freaking her out. The old lady chided them for making too much noise, so they made their way beside her desk. The old lady did not even look up from her desk. Chihiro assumed them that it was Yubaaba by the desk. Summoning up courage, she asked her for work.

Yubaaba stopped writing and looked up. With one motion, she literally zipped Chihiro's mouth shut. She grinned as Chihiro pulled at her mouth in shock, trying to open them.

Continuing her work, she began to talk about how rude and insensitive her parents were, eating her guests' food like pigs, and certainly deserved being turned into pigs. They could be turned into ham or sausages for her guests. Maybe, she said, she should turn Chihiro into a lump of coal, or maybe a piglet perhaps?

Lighting a cigarette, Yubaaba laughed at Chihiro who was shivering with fear. She also wondered how Chihiro had been able to get this far. In a nice voice, she asked Chihiro who it was, unzipping her mouth at the same time.

Chihiro took the opportunity to ask for work again. Yubaaba yelled at her for bringing up the topic again. Again, Chihiro asked her for work, this time nearly shouting. Yubaaba finally had it and in a rage, she jumped and flew straight in front of Chihiro, her face almost touching Chihiro's. She then proceeded to yell at her on why she should employ her, that anyone could see that she was a spoiled brat, useless too, that she already has all the "bums" she needed for the bathhouse. Then, in a sneering tone, she suggested that maybe if Chihiro really wanted a job that bad, she could be put on the worst, hardest, most tiring work she has until she breathed her very last, all the while tapping her large fingernails at Chihiro's throat, relishing at Chihiro's fear.

Thumping sounds put a stop to them both. The sounds caused the room to shake and both of them looked in the direction of the door beside Yubaaba's desk. A large foot finally kicked out of the door and shattering it, followed by a loud wailing of a baby. Wearing a worried look on her face, Yubaaba rushed to pacify her baby. Chihiro was still determined to get a job and so asked yet again and again while Yubaaba tried to shush the baby and fend off Chihiro at the same time. She finally gave in on the condition that she shut up so the baby would shut up too. In a motherly tone, she then entered the room the room to put the baby to sleep.

All was quiet again. The three heads, who were standing near Chihiro, looked at her as she stood there waiting for something to happen.

A piece of paper from the fallen stack of papers pulled itself out. A pen followed it as it flew towards Chihiro. Yubaaba came out and instructed her to sign the contract. Chihiro pointed at a blank spot and asked if she was to sign there and was chided by Yubaaba, who said of course. Pulling out wood splints from her hair while pulling the bell and using her magic to straighten out the room again, Yubaaba complained about the whole situation, and it was all because of the oath she took a long time ago to give work to anyone who asked for it.

She was done just as Chihiro finished writing her name. Summoning the paper into her hands, she snorted at Chihiro's name, saying that it was too lavish for her. She motioned her hand over Chihiro's name in a grabbing motion and the pencil markings of Chihiro's name left except for one kanji and floated below her hand and promptly clasped it. Looking at Chihiro, she told her that she was now called 'Sen'.

Haku appeared by the doorway asking if Yubaaba had called him. Yubaaba told him that Chihiro would be starting her job as from that day and told him to take care of her. Turning to Chihiro, Haku asked for her name. She almost said 'Chihiro' before changing it to Sen.

On the way down, Chihiro tried to speak to Haku but was told to be silent. She was also told, in a cold manner, that he is to be addressed as Haku-sama from that moment on.

Downstairs, the workers were openly declaring their displeasure at having a human amongst them, including the two in charge, Anihyaku and Chichihyaku. Unfortunately, Chihiro's contract had been signed and there was no turning back. If, however, she was found to be utterly useless in three days time, they could do whatever they wished to her. Chihiro was then left in the care of Lin, who was as displeased as the other workers. Left alone later, however, she showed her true colors and congratulated Chihiro for making it this far, and told her that she could ask her if she needed anything.

In their room, Lin was searching for Chihiro's clothes when Chihiro asked if there were two Hakus in the bathhouse. Lin scoffed, obviously meaning that even one of him was too much to handle. Haku did terrible things for Yubaaba, as he was her henchman. By then, Chihiro was feeling really unwell and had to be comforted by Lin.

Very early the next morning, Haku made his way to Yubaaba's room to see her off. Yubaaba wrapped herself with a large black cloth with only her large nose, eyes and hair visible. Hopping onto the ledge, she spread out her wings that had magically formed by her side and flew off together with the bird. The three heads left as Haku turned off the lights.

Chihiro was unable to sleep despite being awake through the night. She was still shivering from fear under her blanket when she heard the door open. The shivering stopped as she listened more intently. Footsteps drew closer and closer to her and she quickly shut her eyes with a whimper, trying to appear asleep.

A hand touched the blanket and Haku's voice was heard telling Chihiro to meet him across the bridge. It was not until Chihiro heard the door close did she finally open her eyes. Looking towards the door for a moment, she sat up and picked up her uniform.

There was no one in sight as Chihiro made her way outside other than the sootballs who brought out her shoes. However, the ghostly spirit she met on the bridge last night was still there. Bracing herself, she walked on. AS she passed the spirit, she bowed, then quickly ran past, looking back only when she had crossed the bridge. It was gone.

Haku tapped on her shoulder and asked her to follow him. He led her through a field of tall flowers towards the pig sty where her parents lay sleeping. Chihiro asked if they were sick. Hakus said no, they just had too much to eat and were sleeping it off. Chihiro's attempts to attract their attention were a failure; they had forgotten that they were once human, Haku explained. In tears, Chihiro told them not to get too fat and after promising that she would find a way to save them, she ran out.

In the field of flowers, Haku presented Chihiro with her clothes that were supposed to have been thrown away. As Chihiro dug into the pockets, Haku told Chihiro that she would need them in order to escape. From the pockets, Chihiro showed Haku a farewell card that her friend had given her. The card proved to be a stepping stone for Chihiro as she read out her own name from the card. Haku explained that Yubaaba controlled others by stealing their names. If not for him or the card, Chihiro would most certainly have remained as Sen. Unlike her, Haku could no longer recall his own name. He thought it surprising strange that he could remember Chihiro's.

Haku brought out some riceballs and persuaded Chihiro to eat them, saying that her had put a spell on them to help her regain her strength. Whether it was the spell or the recovered strength, it was not known, but Chihiro's buried feelings were also opened again, and she cried to her heart's desire for the first time ever.

Thanking Haku, Chihiro ran across the bridge. When she looked back, she could only see what seemed to be a dragon flying away into the horizon. Finally tired, Chihiro fell asleep in the boiler room where Kamajii later found her. He picked up the rug on the floor and used it to cover Chihiro from the cold.

That night, Chihiro began her work as a bath house worker. Her incompetence was clearly showing as she struggled with every chore, earning herself a scolding from Lin every now and then. Once, when emptying a tub of dirty water, she saw the spirit that was on the bridge in the yard. She bowed and asked if it was alright standing there, and wouldn’t it be soaked? Lin shouted for he to hurry. Shouting back, Chihiro told the spirit that she would leave the door open for it to come in and ran off. The spirit was smiling as it climbed into the bath house. Anihyaku later came to Lin and informed her that she and Sen were to work at the big tub from that day forth. Lin argued that it was supposed to be the frogs work but was simply told that it was orders from above. Might as well give their all, he said.

The big tub was a mess with herbs strewn all over. The tub itself was thick with sludge. As they were cleaning it, a worker came in and told them that the first customers will be arriving soon. Lin once again showed her displeasure, which she did almost all the time, and told Chihiro to get a tag from the foreman (Bandai) as she lifted her out of the tub. Landing on her head, Chihiro quickly ran off, only to come back and ask who the foreman was.

Meanwhile, Yubaaba had sensed something approaching. Clearing all the gold and jewels, she opened the window and looked out into the rain. She could not see anything but knew that some scum was coming under the cover of the rain. Beyond the bath house grounds, the shops were all closing their doors as a large sludge-like creatures lumbered slowly in the streets.

Chihiro was having a hard time persuading the foreman to give her a tag even as he was freely giving away tags to the other workers and told her to scrub the tub with her bare hands. Behind him, the spirit appeared and Chihiro promptly bowed slightly, much to the confusion of the foreman, who was too late in turning as the spirit made itself invisible. The phone rang and the foreman forgot about the incident- until a tag flew by itself into Chihiro's hands. After a hasty thank you, Chihiro ran off as the foreman shouted after her. He could not do anything though, Yubaaba was on the other side of the line. She informed him that there was something coming. Asked if it was a human, Yubaaba told him to find out for himself since Haku was out.

Back at the big tub, Lin praised Chihiro for getting a really good tag. She showed Chihiro how to fasten the tag to a clip hidden behind a door in the wall. The tag would go to Kamajii, she told Chihiro. It was not busy now, so water would be up shortly. True enough, a through dropped out from the wall. Pull the string for hot water, said Lin, who allowed Chihiro to have a go. As she pulled, Chihiro slipped and fell down, earning yet another insult from Lin. Chihiro marveled at the color of the water. Dried worm salts, said Lin. With water this murky, who would see the sludge, she added slyly, then told Chihiro to let go of the string as she went to get their breakfast.

Alone for a moment, Chihiro turned around to see the spirit yet again. Bowing, she slipped yet again and bumped her head rather hard on the base of the tub. Thinking that the spirit was a customer, Chihiro apologised and said that the bath was not ready yet. Instead, the spirit showed her a handful of tags. Chihiro refused it, saying that one was enough. When it became clear that she was never going to accept it, the spirit disappeared, dropping the tags on the floor.

Elsewhere in the bath house, Yubaaba was rapidly descending the staircase and made her way to the main entrance. There she was told that it was a Stink God, and an extra large one at that. The workers were desperately trying to turn the spirit away to no avail. Yubaaba was doubtful as to whether it was a real Stink God or not. Nonetheless, since it had already arrived, they staff might as well welcome it, telling them to get rid of the spirit as soon as possible.

As the other guests and workers were told to return to their rooms, Chihiro and Lin were summoned to see Yubaaba. Lin was busy, so Chihiro went alone. Yubaaba told her that the Stink God was to be her first customer, so she had better not mess up lest she wanted to be turned into a lump of coal.

The horrible stench was so strong that it could be smelled even before the spirit had entered. Cupping her nose, Yubaaba told her not to insult the customer. The two were the only ones there to welcome the spirit as it finally came in. Stretching one of its "hands", the Sting god dropped a large piece of gold into Chihiro’s outstretched hands- as well as a large pile of sludge that looks suspiciously like poo, sending shivers all over Chihiro. Face contorted, Yubaaba quickly ordered her to lead the way. Chihiro, whose face was equally contorted, had to agree. By then, Lin had returned from the kitchen. Seeing her partner tiptoeing, she shouted after Chihiro and her customer. Still, she could not escape the smell. Nor could the food she was carrying, which promptly rotted.

The large size of the Stink God threw out all the water in the tub as it dived in, sending sludge everywhere. It looked at Chihiro and she looked back. Realizing what it wanted, she fought her way through the sludge to send a tag to Kamajii and to refill the tub. All this while, Yubaaba was watching with interest a few floors above her.

Chihiro slipped as she pulled the string and fell into the tub and had to be saved by her own customer. When she came through, she felt around and found what she thought to be a thorn. Lin came in then and shouted that she had asked Kamajii to give all the water he got as well as the best herbal soak. Thanking her, Chihiro informed Lin of her discovery.

By this time, Yubaaba was certain that something was wrong. When she heard about the thorn, she was finally convinced and told the workers to rally all the help downstairs. Jumping down, she handed Chihiro a rope to tie around the thorn. When it was tied down securely, everyone heaved to try to pull out the thorn. Slowly, the "thorn" emerged and proved itself to be a bicycle's handle, much to Chihiro's surprise. Pulling further, more trash began to emerge, slowly at first, then faster when finally, everything simply burst out except a fishing line. When that was finally tugged out, a loud sigh of relief was heard as water surrounded Chihiro and washed out of the tub.

Chihiro seemed to be in another world after surrounded by water. All she could see was a big puddle of water around her. A wrinkled face emerged from within and congratulated her. Only after that did the water surrounding Chihiro subsided. In her hands was a round lump of something that Chihiro could not recognize.

As the water subsided, glitter could be seen until it was apparent that it was gold. A mad rush ensued which was only stopped when Yubaaba screamed at them to be still as the customer was still there. She ordered the doors to be opened and for Chihiro to step aside as the customer was preparing to leave. The water in the tub was gurgling and then exploded with a loud laugh as a dragon with the face of an old man flew out of the building.

All was silent for a moment. All at once, cheering was heard everywhere as Yubaaba hugged Chihiro tightly with glee. The "Stink God" turned out to be a river spirit famous for its generosity, clearly proven by the amount of gold it left behind. Sake was on the house that night and everyone applauded, only to groan when Yubaaba told them to return the gold they had taken.

That night, Lin brought them a plate of buns as Chihiro sat by the balcony, marveling at how the rain created the ocean. A train rumbled by and Chihiro saw a town illuminated by lights. Lin confessed on her desire to escape to that town someday.

Chihiro looked down into her hand and smiled as she sniffed the lump that was given to her. The smile quickly disappeared as she took a bite. It must have been really awful by the way the screwed up her face.

While everyone was asleep, one frog was awake. It was he one that had greeted Haku while on the bridge and was making its way to the big tub with a stick in hand, prodding and digging for gold. So absorbed was he that he failed to realize a spirit rising from the tub and dropping pieces of gold. When he finally saw it, the frog became authoritative- until the spirit produced a handful of gold. Greed overcame him as he rushed for the gold and for promptly swallowed.

Anihyaku came by to investigate the noise and found the spirit, this time with arms and legs- and with the voice of the frog he had eaten. The spirit immediately demanded for everyone to be awakened, for he wanted a bath.

Through the same field of flowers, Chihiro made her way to the pig sty to present the lump to her parents, confident that it would change her parents into humans again. However, at the mere mention of being changed back into humans, all the pigs rushed forward and Chihiro could not tell which were her real parents were. As her shouts became louder, Chihiro snapped awake. It was all a dream.

Chihiro sighed. Then her eyes snapped wide open and looked around, realizing that she was all alone in that room. Outside, she could see smoke bellowing from the chimney and wondered if she had overslept. Downstairs, everyone else was already awake and at work full speed to satisfy their "customer", collecting every gold nugget it threw, which were emerging in handfuls. Lin showed one to Chihiro when they met when she was about to go wake Chihiro up. Chihiro decided not to join after all and went back upstairs. Resting her chin on the balcony ledge, Chihiro wondered how her parents were and worried about what would happen if she could not recognize her parents.

As she pondered, she was suddenly aware of a figure flying below her. She startled back as she realized that it was a dragon, chased by what looked like birds but were not. The dragon was severely injured due to being attacked by the creatures. Chihiro shouted for Haku to fight back, then realized that she had called the dragon Haku. She called for it to come her way. After it crashed into the room, Chihiro tried her best to shut the sliding doors as the creatures dived in her direction. The creatures were sticking to her and she freaked out soon after, then realized that it was just paper. Slowly, the remaining paper figures that were not destroyed by Chihiro's trashing flew away.

The dragon was bleeding profusely and blood was flowing out from its mouth as well. Concerned, Chihiro asked Haku if he was okay, and that the creatures were gone. On hearing that, the dragon shot out into the sky again, albeit slightly weaker. Chihiro realized that it was heading towards Yubaaba's room and ran off after it. Behind her, a lone paper figure stood up and went after Chihiro, sticking itself to the back of her shirt.

Downstairs, the foreman had everyone lined up to welcome their generous customer and beg for money. The elevator could only be accessed by pushing through the crowd, which was what Chihiro had to do. One of the frogs tried to stop her but was scared off by the blood on her hands.

Running the other way, Chihiro came face to face with the spirit. Immediately, she bowed and thanked it for its help the other day. As she did so, the foreman was shouting at her to get out of the way and was promptly thrown aside by the spirit.

Reaching out both hands, the spirit began to produce a huge pile of gold from its hands and offered it to Chihiro who shook her head, telling it that she neither wanted it nor needed it, and was busy at the moment. With every word, the spirit trembled even harder and dropped all the gold on the floor as Chihiro ran off again, feeling hurt even as the workers scrambled for the gold around him. The foreman had to subdue them and ordered them to bhave themselves. Then, turning to the spirit, he apologised for Chihiro's behaviour, saying that she was new and only human.

The spirit turned to look at him and told him to wipe the smile of his face. Ignoring all pleas, it grabbed the foreman and a worker who had sneaked forward to pick up a gold nugget and swallowed them both together. Seeing their colleagues eaten, the other workers panicked and scrambled for safety.

Chihiro was still trying to find her way to Yubaaba's room. SInce she could not get there by elevator, she had decided to go outside and find a route there. However, this meant she had to run across a pipe and climbing up a tall ladder by the wall. Psyching herself up, she took a deep breath and sprinted all the way to the ladder and clung on to it as the pipe broke off and bent down, nearly breaking off.

Halfway up, the paper figure on her spotted something and tapped Chihiro behind her head to make her look behind. To her horror, Yubaaba was returning back from her journey. Fortunately, Yubaaba did not see Chihiro hiding on the window ledge below. Assured that Yubaaba had not seen her, Chiiro turned her attention to the window which was locked. Only with the help of he paper figure could she get in, and she quickly made her way to Yubaaba's room. Unfortunately for her, she had to pass through Yubaaba's baby's room first.

The paper figure brought her attention to Yubaaba in the next room. Peeking through the slightly opened door, she listened as Yubaaba scolded someone for their greed which attracted quite a customer, and identified it as Kaonashi (No-Face), which was apparently not a well-liked spirit. After telling the worker not to do anything foolish until she got down, she commented on the mess Haku had made and told someone to get rid of him, then headed for her son's room.

Chihiro panicked. Looking for a place to hide, she dived into the pile of cushions beside her just in time as Yubaaba pulled aside the curtains. Eyeing the stack of cushions, Yubaaba began pulling away at the cushions until she saw her son Bou's face. Her son began to cry, so she pacified it and covered him with the cushions again before leaving.

As Chihiro took the opportunity to leave, a hand grabbed her and pulled her back in. It was Bou and he wanted to know if she was there to make him ill. He had the assumption that if he left the room, he would get sick. Chihiro told himt that it was staying in that room that would make him sick. She then begged it to let her go because someone she really cared for was in need of help. Bou refused to let her go, telling her to play with or or he would break her arm, twisting Chihiro's arm to show that he was not joking. Chihiro's pleas fell on deaf ears, so she resorted to showing him her bloodied hand. It worked, and Chihiro escaped as Bou trashed around.

In Yubaaba's room, she saw the heads pushing Haku into a pit. She shooed them away but was attacked by Yubaaba's bird as she struggled to pull Haku away from the pit.

The fight stopped as Bou made his way out to confront Chihiro. Panting, he bravely declared that he was not afraid of blood. He demanded once again for Chihiro to play with him, otherwise, he would cry and then Yubaaba would come up and kill her. As he began to cry, the paper figure spoke up. Everyone turned their attention towards the paper as it stood on the floor and conjured up a semi-translucent version of Yubaaba. Bou called it Yubaaba, recognizing it as his mother. The conjured-up Yubaaba turned to him and asked it it could not even recognize his own mother. Pointing a finger at him, she transformed Bou into a fat mouse, declaring that it would give him more freedom.

As the Yu-bird and the heads tried to escape, the witch turned them into a fly and a fake Bou respectively. Turning to Chihiro, she told her to keep it as their little secret lest she wanted to have her mouth ripped out. She introduced herself as Zeniiba, Yubaaba's twin sister, and told her that her sister had had Haku steal something belonging to her. Chihiro argued that Haku would never do such a thing; he was too kind for that. Zeniiba did not contest that, but added that all dragons are kind; kind and stupid, eager to learn her sister's magical ways.

The fake Bou was making a racket chasing the mouse and fly, so Zeniiba turned to settle them down. As she did so, the dragon opened its eyes and lashed out its tail, smashing the paper figure into bits, which made Zeniiba disappear. The burst of energy took a lot from the dragon and it dropped into the pit with Chihiro still holding on.

As Chihiro grabbed onto its horns, she was enveloped by memories of her in a river. They continued falling until they reached a large pit with black figures floating around. At this point, the dragon recovered its consciousness and barely dropped into the black figures. Instead, it soared upwards and into another tunnel leading to the boiler room.

Chihiro landed hard on Kamajii while the dragon tried to hold onto the drawers before collapsing. Recovering quickly, Chihiro tried to subdue the dragon even as it lashed out weakly at her. Kamajii concluded that his injuries were too severe for him to be off anyhelp. Hearing that, Chhiro took out the present given to her by the rive god and tried to make Haku eat part of it. Kamajii was more interested in the gift, a herbal cake.

The dragon was less than coorperative, so Chihiro bit off half of the cake and pulled open its mouth, unafraid of its huge teeth, and lodged her arm into its mouth to make it swallow the cake. The response for instantanious and Chihiro had to grab onto its mouth to keep it from vomitting the cake out even as it trashed its tail about. Finally, the dragon vomitted out a large black blob. Kamajii pointed it out to Chihiro.

The blob was quickly dissolving until all that was left was a seal and a black worm-like thing. Kamajii pointed it out to Chihiro who chased it around and finally managed to squash it under her feet, grossing her out.

By then, Haku had changed back into his human form. He was alive, but barely. Kamajii gave him some water and rested him on a futon bed. He explained that the thing that was vomitted out was a witch's seal, and according to him, was no small loot. He also told her how Haku came up to Yubaaba one day just like her to ask for work. He had nothing left anyway, so requested to be Yubaaba's apprentice. As the days passed by, his eyes grew colder and colder until it was like ice.

Chihiro volunteered to return the seal to Zeniiba, much to Kamajii's surprise, who warned her that she was one scary witch. Chihiro did not care; Haku had helped her before, so it was her turn to help him. Going there was possible, began Kamajii. Returning, however...

He told Chihiro to wait as he went to look for something. Chihiro turned to the sootballs and asked for her clothes. At that same time, Lin came in looking for Chihiro. She noticed the mess first, then Haku, and finally Chihiro. Yubaaba wanted to see her, she said. From what she heard, Chihiro was the one who led Kaonashi to the bath house. Chihiro thought for a moment, then said that it was probably true.

Kamajii found the ticket he was looking for and gave it to Chihiro. Zeniiba's home is at Swamp Bottom, so stop at the sixth stop. He also told her that the train was a one-way service. There used to be a return train but it was no longer in service. That suited Chihiro just fine, who decided that she could walk back along the track. Before going to Yubaaba, she bent down to talk to Haku first. Lin wondered aloud as to what was going on and was told by Kamajii, rather bluntly, that it was love.

Chichihyaku was there to meet Chihiro when she arrived at the closed room where Kaonashi was. Kaonashi was throwing a racket inside and Yubaaba was trying her feeble best to pacify him. Yubaaba scolded her softly, but was interrupted by the fly and the mouse staring at her. Chihiro asked if she could not recognize them. Of course not, she said, who promptly pushed her in.

Kaonashi had grown exceptionally large from all the gorging. He tried courting Chihiro with food and gold but Chihiro was unmoved. She simply told him that she needed to go somewhere first, and that he should return to wherever he had come from. It touched a sensitive spot as Kaonashi retreated, then tried persuading her again. Chihiro decided that if he was going to eat her, he should have some herbal cake first, which she was saving for her parents.

Like Haku, Kaonashi began having severe reations, vomitting out large amounts of sludge. Bursting with anger, he began chasing Chihiro around the bath house. Strong as he was, the constant vomitting took its toll on him as Chihiro led him out of the bath house where Lin was waiting in a boat. Lin was not all that pleased with Chihiro's idea of letting Kaonashi follow her.

By the time they reached the train track, Chihiro had changed out of her uniform. As she walked along the track, Lin shouted after her that she was sorry for calling her names all the time. Chihiro simply answered with a wave. Lin then shouted at Kaonashi, telling him not to do anything to Chihiro or else.

The train soon arrived and they got on the train (Chihiro, Boh-mouse and the fly as well as Kaonashi, who had caught up with them). It was a long journey as Chihiro sank into deep thoughts. It was late at night when they finally arrived at Swamp Bottom. A one-legged hopping lamp post greeted them and led them to Zeniiba's house, which was a simple hut.

Zeniiba was rather surprised that nothing happened to Chihiro who was holding on to the seal. She was even more surprised that her spell was gone. Chihiro mistaking the thing she squashed as Zeniiba's spell, apologized for squashing it. Zeniiba grew even more surprised and burst out laughing, explaining to Chihiro that the thing she stepped was Yubaaba's doing, which allowed her to control her apprentice.

Chihiro then asked Zeniiba if she could change her two tiny friends back to their original forms. Zeniiba looked at them and said in a puzzled manner that the spell should have worn out a long time ago, so they should have been able to change back by themselves. Both shook their heads, obviously preferring to remain in their current forms.

When tea was served, Chihiro explained her story to Zeniiba. In turn, Zeniiba told her how different she and her sister was, as Chihiro herself should have noticed. Also, she could not help Chihiro in her troubles. There were, after all, rules in the spirit world that cannot be broken. When Chihiro mentioned that she somehow had the feeling that she and Haku had met before, she told her then that things should be simple then, since nothing that has ever happened will ever be forgotten, even if she could not remember it. That said, she invited Chihiro to stay for the night, as it was already late into the night. Zeniiba then turned to the others and asked them to help her in some needlework.

Chihiro sat by the window for a long time before approaching Zeniiba to tell her that she should be getting back as soon as possible. She was worried that Haku might have died and her parents slaughtered. Zeniiba understood and told her to wait for a moment as she snipped off a few loose threads of a newly-sewn hairband for Chihiro. It would protect her, said Zeniiba, as she handed Chihiro her parting gift. A gust of wind rattled the window. Another guest has arrived said Zeniiba, and asked Chihiro to greet him.

As Chihiro opened the door, she gasped as she stared at the magnificent dragon standing in the front lawn: Haku. Shouting in happiness, she ran out and hugged him, checking to see if he was alright. Zeniiba and the others emerged too to meet Haku, who promptly bowed low to apologize for stealing her seal. All was forgiven, and Zeniiba sent Bou and the Yu-bird, still in their other forms, home with Chihiro. Kaonashi was requested to stay with her as he would be a big help.

With a final hug, Chihiro told Zeniiba her real name before she left. She was told to keep it safe with her before climbing onto Haku and flying away into the distance back to Aburaya.

Along the way, Chihiro had flashes of memories of the time when she fell into a river during her childhood. Climbing closer to Haku's head so that he could hear, she told him about how her mother had told her about the time she fell into a river when she was younger. Her mother told her that the river was drained to make way for buildings and such. She could not remember then, but she could now. The river she had fell into was Haku's river. Its name: Nigihayami Kohakugawa.

Instantly, Haku began to break off as he were made purely of scales until only his form as a human was left, holding on to Chihiro's hand. Happily, he thanked Chihiro for giving him his name back: Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi. Just like a god's name, said Chihiro who burst into tears of happiness as they continued their way back.

Dawn was already upon the land as Yubaaba paced in front of twelve pigs, waiting for Chihiro to return. Lin, who was also waiting behind the walls, poked her head up and saw them arriving and raised the alarm, calling out every other worker who were also waiting behind the walls, including Kamajii.

The moment they landed, Yubaaba demanded for her child. Bou was already flying towards her and changed back right in front of her astonished eyes and was greeted ecstatically by his mother. It took a while for Yubaaba to realize that her son was standing all by herself, something that she probably had never seen before. Haku called out that Yubaaba still has yet to fulfill her promise. Yubaaba snorted, saying that it was not going to be as easy as that. The world has rules to be followed after all. At that, Chihiro called out- but saying "Obaa-san(grandma)" instead of Yubaaba as she had always done.

Steadily she walked towards Yubaaba, explaining to her that Haku had already told her about the rule. Yubaaba commented drily that she at least had the guts to ask about it and led her to the twelve pigs in front of the bath house entrance. Amongst them were her parents, said Yubaaba. In order for her contract to be broken and her parents set free, Chihiro had to correctly identify her parents amongst them.

Chihiro looked at the pigs trying to identify her parents. Giving up, she turned to Yubaaba that it was useless; her parents were nowhere amongst the pigs provided. Yubaaba echoed Chihiro and asked if that was her answer. Chihiro paused, then nodded firmly.

Instantly, the contract in her hand turned to dust in a small burst. The pigs immediately turned into twelve workers of the Aburaya who congratulated her for making the right choice. Everyone in the bath house cheered loudly for Chihiro; she was free. Yubaaba was the only one with an unhappy face, who urged Chihiro on her way, giving only a snort when Chihiro bowed and thanked her. Waving to everyone, she ran towards Haku and left the compounds of Aburaya.

Chihiro asked Haku where her parents were and was told that they were already on their way. Upon reaching the steps, Haku stopped and told Chihiro that he could not take a step further. He assured Chihiro that he was going to be alright and that he would quit his apprenticeship with Yubaaba and return to his own world. It was fine now, since he has gotten his name back. He told Chihiro not to look back until she had emerged from the other end of the tunnel. Chihiro was still reluctant to let go and ask if they will ever meet again. Haku said yes but Chihiro made him promise. He then sent Chihiro on her way as he finally let go of Chihiro's hand.

Ahead of her, Chihiro could hear her mother calling for her. She was chided for running off like that. When Chihiro asked them if they were alright, her parents ignored her and walked into the tunnel. Confused, Chihiro began to turn her head but Haku words stayed clear in her mind, and she ran after her parents.

When they finally emerged from the tunnel, the first thing her father noticed was his car covered in fallen leaves. It was all dusty inside too. Chihiro, however, was looking back at the tunnel, all memories of the events that had happened lost from her. Her mother called Chiihro to come into the car as they were sriving off. Chihiro took another moment, then turned away, her hairband glistering in the sunlight.

As they pulled away from the place, the foliage began to cover the entrance and the path as they drove further and further away from the mysterious tunnel, away from its view, never turning back.