

Gothel cuts off Rapunzel's hair, shatters the paintbrush, and destroys the portal to the kingdom. Unfortunately, Otto swipes Rapunzel's invitation and takes it to his mistress. Back at the tower, she paints herself a beautiful costume. Promising to meet Stefan again, Rapunzel paints a portal back to the tower and returns with Penelope. Afraid that her father will be punished if Gothel finds out Rapunzel has left, Penelope goes through the portal and begs Rapunzel to come back. Rapunzel uses it to meet Stefan again, though she insists he never tell her his name for fear of Gothel, and Stefan gives her an invitation to the masquerade ball that night. When Rapunzel attempts to use the brush, a mural of the kingdom magically appears on her wall which she discovers acts as a portal. As Rapunzel sleeps, the hairbrush magically transforms into a paintbrush. When Rapunzel insists she doesn't know the name of the man she met when Gothel questions her, her paintings are destroyed and her room transformed into a high tower with Penelope's father Hugo tasked with ensuring she doesn't leave. However, Gothel's pet ferret Otto, who had followed Rapunzel, informs his mistress of Rapunzel meeting a man. Rapunzel hurries off without learning Stefan's name to avoid Gothel discovering her disappearance. He tells her the trap was set by King Wilhelm, the ruler of an opposing kingdom who has an ongoing feud with Stefan's father, King Frederick. Outside the castle Rapunzel saves Princess Katrina from a pit trap with the help of her older brother, Prince Stefan.

Rapunzel follows it, leading to the kingdom outside. Penelope also discovers a tunnel underneath the floor.

One day, Rapunzel and her friends inadvertently open a secret passage to the basement where Rapunzel finds a gift from her birth-parents: a silver hairbrush engraved with a message affirming their love for Rapunzel this leads Rapunzel to question Gothel's claims of her abandonment. She spends her time painting pictures of places she dreams of going when she is free one day Gothel disapproves of this, accusing Rapunzel of being ungrateful to the witch for supposedly saving her from abandonment as a baby. She finds companionship in Penelope, a young dragon and Hobie, an anxious rabbit. Rapunzel is a young woman with long, floor-length hair who lives as a servant to the wicked witch Gothel, residing in an magically secluded manor in the woods. The story is told by Barbie to her younger sister Kelly, who is insecure in her painting abilities.
