In medieval Europe, the
Church is fighting against 'black magic'. The medical knowledge of Greek physicians like
Hippocrates and
Galen had been lost to the
medicine of medieval Europe. In 11th-century
England, travelling
barber surgeons attempted to supply medical care to the ordinary population, often at the risk of the Church persecuting them for witchcraft. Robert Cole has an extraordinary gift, where he can sense when someone left untreated has a
terminal illness. He notices this for the first time when he feels it as a little boy when his sick mother is dying of
side sickness, a disease of which he was unaware. The young orphan joins an itinerant barber-surgeon who calls himself Barber. Barber teaches him the basics of medieval medicine, with services such as
cupping therapy,
bloodletting, and
dental extraction. Even as an apprentice Rob recognizes the limitations of these simple practices. When Barber suffers from a
cataract, Rob consults a Medicus for him. This
Jewish doctor completely heals Barber of his cataracts. He learns a little bit of Jewish culture. He speaks with two children, Jesse and Benjamin. There, Rob sees for the first time a
world map, and learns of the famous
Ibn Sina, who teaches medicine in distant
Kakuyid Persia. So he decides to train there to become a physician. During the
Islamic Golden Age, the
medicine in the medieval Islamic world is far more advanced than in Europe. The doctor, scientist and philosopher Ibn Sina teaches in
Isfahan, the most important school for aspiring practitioners in the world at that time. Rob is told Christians are forbidden to enter Muslim lands while Jews are tolerated. Upon arriving in
Egypt, Rob therefore
circumcises himself and calls himself Jesse ben Benjamin, pretending to be a Jew (Rob is, in fact, a Christian). In a caravan he meets Rebecca who reads to him from
a book about
Aladdin and
Sinbad the Sailor. The caravan experiences a
sandstorm, so Rob almost dies. When, after arriving in Isfahan, he asks for admission to the hospital and school of Ibn Sina, he is rejected and thrown out and beaten by guards. Lying in the street with a cut and a
concussion he is found by the Guardian, so then he is taken in as a patient. In a
bimaristan (hospital) and
madrasa (college), he is treated by Ibn Sina and admitted as a student to learn the basics of scientific medicine as well as
other sciences and philosophy (including
Aristotelian and
Islamic philosophy). Rob learns to perform a
medical history and medical examination including
pulse diagnosis, the
leech treatment, the use of opium, including the
analgesic effect, and surgical procedures. After the
Shah refuses a peace treaty with the
Seljuks, the Seljuks send a man infected with the
Black Death to
deliberately infect the city. Thousands begin to die after being cared for by Ibn Sina and his students. Only by Rob's discovery and rapid application of basic
hygienic principles is the plague overcome. Rob suggests that
oriental rat fleas may be the carriers of the Black Death, and with rat poison the pest may be suppressed. Rob is reunited with Rebecca, who has come down with the plague, and is able to bond with her since her husband temporarily abandons the city, leaving her to become sick. Rob nurses her back to health, Rebecca makes a full recovery, and she and Rob become romantically involved and engage in
extramarital sex right before Rebecca must return to her husband, who has returned to the city. Rebecca is impregnated as a result, and her husband eventually discovers this, which leads to her being sentenced to death by
stoning. The Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions influence the evaluation of medical science, and a conflict is sparked by the ethical assessment of the
autopsy on the human body. As a
Zoroastrian dies of side sickness, Rob learns from him that Zoroastrianism does not prohibit an adherent from undergoing autopsy after death. Rob secretly performs an autopsy on his body to deepen his knowledge of anatomy and to discover the inflamed
vermiform appendix. When the
mullahs discover what he has done, both Rob and Ibn Sina are sentenced to death for
necromancy. Rebecca is about to be stoned for
adultery when the Shah is apparently stricken with side sickness. Rob and Ibn Sina are freed so that Rob will perform an
appendectomy, using
anesthesia, on the Shah. Before beginning the surgery, Rob arranges for Rebecca to be rescued from her impending execution. Isfahan is betrayed by the
mullahs to the
Seljuks, since they want to drive the Jewish community and Ibn Sina's madrasa out of the city. Mullah soldiers then arrive to attack the hospital. Ibn Sina heads to the burning library and transfers his
medical writings to Rob Cole, and also awards him the medical title '
Hakim'. Ibn Sina then stays to die in the burning library. Rob Cole, as well as others, escape through a gate the Shah has told them about while he and his men go to make a last stand against the Seljuks. Rob returns with Rebecca, as his wife, to
London and establishes a hospital. The old Barber, Cole's first teacher, learns from a little boy about his former pupil's return and fame. The Barber then asks the boy to take him to see his old pupil as the film ends. ==Cast==