A lonely scholar, on a trip to Istanbul, discovers a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.

Dr Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic - content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.

In her quest to find the common truths behind humankind's stories, British narratologist Dr Alithea Binnie finds herself in Istanbul. When Alithea stumbles upon an intriguing, hand-blown crystal bottle, the curious academic unleashes the supernatural force living in the peculiar glass container: the Djinn, or the Genie in the bottle. As the otherworldly entity enthrals Alithea with extraordinary stories spanning three millennia, the shocked professor has three wishes to fulfil her heart's desires. However, Alithea already knows that there's no story about wishing that is not a cautionary tale. After all, trickster Djinns love to manipulate humans' intimate longings to serve their own selfish ends. And that's the problem. What happens if Alithea makes no wish at all?—Nick Riganas