In 1846, Benjamin Barker, a barber, arrives in London, accompanied by the young sailor, Anthony Hope. A flashback reveals that fifteen years earlier, Barker was falsely convicted and exiled to Australia by the corrupt Judge William Turpin, who lusted after Barker's wife, Lucy. Barker adopts the alias "Sweeney Todd" and returns to his old shop on Fleet Street, situated above Nellie Lovett's meat pie shop. Recognizing Barker, Lovett tells him that once he was exiled, Turpin sexually assaulted Lucy and drove her to suicide before adopting the couple's daughter, Johanna, as his ward. Todd vows revenge and re-opens his barbershop after Mrs. Lovett, who loves him unrequitedly, presents him with his old straight razors. Wandering the streets where he encounters a beggar woman, Anthony becomes enamored with Johanna after seeing her sing by a window above the street, but is caught by Turpin and driven away by his henchman and personal bailiff, Beadle Bamford.
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