This is a film about the moral and philosophical sides of the life and the art, about the complex relations between the artist and the rough rules of the time in which he lives.

Mid 13 c. Icon-painter Iliya is commissioned to do the frescoes of a newly built church. The local ruler holds the gifted and outspoken past master in awe and they make friends. But Iliya is dazzled by the beauty of Desislava, the ruler's wife. Another interesting woman, The Levantine, enters his life. Being antipodes, the two of them inspire him to paint one of the best icons ever, which is still kept in Boyana Church nearby Sofia - a cultural monument, under the protection of UNESCO.—Georgi Djulgerov <[email protected]>