Aldin, a vagabond water vendor, embarks on a series of fantastical and tragic misadventures through the Middle East in search of love, fortune, and power.

Aldin, a poor traveling water seller rescues a beautiful slave woman named Miriam from a slave auction in Baghdad. They fall in love at first sight and have a tryst, but the evil sheriff arrests Aldin and takes Miriam for himself. After being tortured, Aldin eventually manages to escape only to find his beloved dying in childbirth. Aldin flees the city and has many more bizarre, dangerous and often tragic adventures including finding Ali Baba's cave of wonders where he meets a tomboy outlaw with a serious grudge against the sheriff, landing on a strange island full of beautiful horny naked women, escaping a gigantic man-eating monster and discovering a ship that's actually a wish-granting genie. Eventually, Aldin returns to Baghdad as a much older and bitter man with the intent of becoming the new king and marrying the princess, who may or may not be his illegitimate daughter. However, nothing goes as planned despite the intervention of two quizzical shapeshifting creatures.