The great spiritual leader and poet Rumi has come to the palace of Queen Tamar of Anatolia-there he begins his masterpiece, The Masnavi; but Tamar's brother Hasan soon plots against Rumi, and Rumi's own past comes to haunt him when a letter leads him to suspect his own son, Alaloddin, is behind the disappearance of his Sufi master, Shams of Tabriz.