In 1757, in Poland, followers of the false Jewish Messiah Jacob Frank have publicly denounced the Talmud and convinced the authorities to let them burn thousands of copies of the holiest Jewish texts. One such disciple of the new movement undertakes a journey to confront his former teacher, the famed mystic and kabbalist Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the holy Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism in Eastern Europe. In the course of a long day, this follower of the false Messiah, Jacob Frank, lays out his life story and the revelations and supernatural wonders that have led him to a new and twisted form of Judaism that rejects and destroys the most sacred texts of the Jewish tradition. The Baal Shem Tov, in turn, must decide how to confront such a radical new evil.