Heartcatch takes what should be a disposable fashion-show tie-in and turns it into something that actually matters, a story about a daughter finally seeing her mother as more than just the person who's never home. Paris is just the stage. The real fight is watching Erika understand that her mom's ambition isn't a betrayal; it's something she can stand beside instead of resent. When the girls transform to protect that fashion show, they're not saving a runway, they're fighting to keep the people they love from disappearing into the lives they've chosen.

Erika's mother, Sakura Kurumi, is getting ready to stage a fashion show in Paris, and girls from the school's fashion club, some of them high school students, travel there to walk the runway. During their stay they come across Oliver, a mysterious boy. When Baron Salamander of the Desert Apostles shows up, the girls transform into Pretty Cures to defend the city. The film blends magical girl action and fantasy with drama against a Parisian backdrop.