A few centuries ago, Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) was a highly respected monk who told stories about eternity in the isolated mountains. One day, the devil Nick (Tom Waits) came uninvited. Under his temptation, Parnassus made a bet with the devil and finally got eternal life as he wished. Now, the doctor travels around with his fantasy circus consisting of his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), the young man Anton (Andrew Garfield), and the dwarf Percy (Verne Troyer). Just when his daughter was about to turn 16, Nick appeared again. It turned out that the doctor had fallen in love with a woman (Lily Cole), but eternal life did not have eternal youth. In order to stay with his lover, he made another stupid bet with the devil, and the price of his rejuvenation was to give his first child to the devil. The day of fulfilling the appointment is getting closer and closer, and the troubled doctor makes another bet with the devil that as long as he collects 5 souls first, he can keep his daughter. At this moment, the down-and-out Tony (Heath Ledger) appears at the right time...