 Wandering minstrel Ashik Kerib falls in love with a rich merchant s daughter, but is spurned by her father and forced to roam the world for a thousand and one nights - but not before he s got the daughter to promise not to marry till his return. It s told in typical Paradjanov style, in a series of visually ravishing  tableaux vivants  overlaid with Turkish and Azerbaijani folksongs.