Pericles travels to Antioch to win the hand of the King's daughter by solving a riddle - only to discover that its answer is a secret so dark that he will be put to death if he reveals it. When Pericles asks for more time, the King grows suspicious and dispatches an assassin; Pericles, however, has already made his escape by sea. But then a storm shipwrecks him on an island, where he meets and marries Thaisa. Eventually learning that the King of Antioch has died, Pericles sets sail again for home - but his journey of Homeric proportions has only just begun.

When Pericles discovers the dread answer to Antioch's riddle, he flees for his life straight into famine, shipwreck, love, fatherhood, and another shipwreck; he loses his wife and daughter, and doesn't find them again until the story moves us through resurrection, attempted murder, pirates, prostitution, and divine revelation.