Director Philipp Stölzl adapts author Noah Gordon's novel about an 11th-century orphan who devotes his life to conquering death after his mother perishes when he is just a child, leaving him to fend for himself in an English mining town. In his quest to become a physician, the young boy studies medicine under renowned Persian expert Ibn Sina. Though the road to enlightenment is a difficult one, the young boy forms many human connections that instill him with the fortitude to pursue his ambitious goal.