In the Viking village of Berk, dragons are feared and hunted by its inhabitants. Hiccup, a clumsy and inventive teenager, is the son of the village chief, Stoick the Vast, but he doesn’t fit the mold of a traditional dragon-slaying Viking. Eager to prove himself, Hiccup injures a rare and mysterious dragon called a Night Fury during a raid but can’t bring himself to kill it. Instead, he secretly befriends it, naming the dragon Toothless. As their bond grows, Hiccup discovers that dragons are not the vicious monsters the Vikings believe them to be. He learns to ride Toothless and begins to understand dragon behavior, which helps him excel in dragon training classes — without actually hurting any dragons. However, his growing compassion puts him at odds with the expectations of his village and his father. When Hiccup discovers the dragons are being forced to serve a giant, monstrous dragon called the Red Death, he tries to convince the Vikings to stop fighting and instead work with the dragons. In the final battle, Hiccup and Toothless lead the fight against the Red Death, ultimately defeating it and proving that humans and dragons can coexist peacefully.