Set in the late 18th century,Belle is a romantic drama based on the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). Belle was the illegitimate daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral and a black slave. She was the first mixed-race woman to be raised by an aristocrat, making her a controversial figure in history.

The story of Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is traditionally set in the mid-to-late 18th century (approx. 1760–1780) in provincial France. This era, known as the late Baroque or early Rococo period, is reflected in the villagers' attire—such as Belle's blue pinafore and the townspeople's tri-corner hats—and the ornate, gilded architecture of the Beast's castle. While the original 1740 fairy tale by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve was written during the reign of Louis XV, Disney’s 1991 and 2017 versions utilize a "stylized" version of the era to evoke a romanticized pre-Revolutionary French atmosphere. Art historians note that the technology shown, such as Maurice’s intricate wood-chopping machine and the use of candle-lit chandeliers, aligns perfectly with the burgeoning Industrial Revolution period just before the French Revolution of 1789.