Within minutes of the TARDIS's arrival on twelfth-century Earth, the Doctor and his companions are in serious trouble. They happen to intercept a Saracen attack on Richard the Lionheart, thereby enabling the English King to escape otherwise certain capture. But Barbara is kidnapped and carried off by the Saracens to the Sultan Saladin's court. Saladin spares her life - on condition she entertains his court by telling stories. And, like Scheherazade, if she fails, then she must die…