In the seclusion of an ancient temple in a deeply remote, wooded mountain range, two strangers meet - a young woman and a mysterious young man who hides his face behind a monkey mask - as they seek shelter from a storm. To make their wait in the pouring rain inside the temple more pleasant, the woman asks the man to tell her a story. A cricket-like princess in a fictional Chinese kingdom sneaks out of the palace one evening to visit a fair. There, she unexpectedly encounters a young mysterious man who possesses an ethereal, otherworldly beauty, and she falls in love with him at first sight. The princess is used to having all her wishes fulfilled and quickly decides that he must be her husband. The young man is, as it later turns out, deaf and mute.