The movie begins In the middle of the night
with a glowing white horse running around a wheat field leaving a trail of light
The following morning a man signals his sons to see the destroyed wheat field
the youngest among them named John catches a hedgehog on his way
When they finally arrive he shows them the destroyed field
then places John in charge of the night guard
During John's Nightwatch he hears the neighing of a horse
he climbs the watch tower to check the source of the sound
In a thick fog he sees a huge white horse
John tries to capture it with a rope but it flees dragging him along
he yells that how he will sell it in the Town's market while on the ride
after a while it crashes the horse falls into a swamp and begins to drown
but John quickly saves it using a wheat mill
after saving it the horse sheds a tear as a sign of appreciation
John is touched he frees the Horse after making it promise never to return or ruin their wheat
field
he looks at the destroyed field realizing he will get punished and sleeps in the stable
he wakes up the next morning to meet two black royal horses
He hears a voice in the background and picks up a pitchfork to attack it
and sees it's a little horse and tries to attack but it reflects back
The horse reveals that the white horse that John encountered yesterday night is his mother
and the black horses are a gift from her while he is here to guide him
and John calls the little horse Foal
John's father screams as he sees the destroyed field
Foal carries John on his back and runs away from the wheat field with great speed
John reveals his plan to sell the horses so Foal whistles loudly to call them before John's
family captures them
They all go into the Town's market where everyone begins to bargain with John for the horses
Foal leads John to the palace where John hopes to sell the horses to the king
unfortunately the king is busy chasing a mosquito in his chamber until he kills it and the courtiers
applaud him
The king dresses up and begins to scope the town from his palace
he sees John with the horses thinking they belong to the royal horses
While everyone tells John his offer The king and the courtiers come down to retrieve the
horse
but John releases them forgetting to take payment because of his admiration for the
king
After they are gone Foal reminds him about the payment
so Foal whistles again and the horses come running back to him crashing the king into
a bag of flour
and John laughs at the king's face
the penalty for mockery of the king is execution but has been replaced with a fine
one courtier reminds the king that the horses will keep running back to him
so the king tells John to come work in the palace
John accepts and begins work immediately
Later that night the king dreams of John gyrating while he is beheaded
The following morning his hatred for John grows while John gains the heart of the people
One of the courtiers suggests sending John on a mission
to find a firebird a bird that doesn't exist apparently
and if he doesn't find it
he will be executed
Despite Foal's warning concerning how difficult finding the Firebird is John still insists
to go
they both go into the forest
to collect some dream nuts to feed the Firebird
Foal stops John from eating it saying it will make him sleep
then they go to an Oasis in the desert the house of the Firebird
They see a warning indicates the presence of liquid sand
and John throws the dream nuts
after a while the Firebird emerges from underground and begins feeding on the nuts
The nuts begin to intoxicate the Firebird Foal goes to sleep after telling John to wake
him up when the Firebird falls asleep
Unfortunately the Firebird notices them and starts to attack
after a fierce battle and massive destruction to the landscape the Firebird finally falls
asleep and John captures it
The following morning The Firebird is weak and sheds a tear of fire which ruins John's
boot
John pities the bird and fears it might die so he frees the bird and lets it escape
while the Firebird flies away it leaves a feather for John
and John finally gets how Foal whistles to call the animals
Foal suggests running away because they will be executed if the Firebird is not delivered
but John insists on going back
When they get back to the kingdom the king orders their execution
John intends to prove himself with the Firebird's feather but it doesn't burn anymore
at the point of execution the feather begins to burn and the Firebird arrives
shining its bright light over the kingdom
The people rejoice with John and the king is forced to reward him and declare a feast
for John's victory
John controls the alternation of night and day with the Firebird
The king and his courtiers discuss their next move to eliminate John
they conclude by sending John as a matchmaker to the heavenly kingdom
to retrieve the virgin Empress which many mighty knights have failed
The following day a messenger announces the king's new assignment to John
and The people gather for John's farewell
Foal reveals the heavenly kingdom is guarded by three heroes it is simply suicided for
John
but John insists on going
they journey to the ice palace with Foal constantly trying to Discourage John
They didn't encounter any heroes at the entrance
instead they were denied entrance by a barrier
The Firebird's feather breaks the barrier releasing a ton of water which turns into
ice
it washes Foal down the cliff wrapping him in a ball of ice while John's boot is iced
to the ground
John removes his leg from his boot and walks into the ice palace where the Firebird's feather
guides him to the right Virgin Empress
John introduces himself to the empress revealing he is a matchmaker sent by his king
While trying to help her down from her ice bed she falls in love with him
she tests his bravery
by jumping down a cliff to see if John will save her and John jumps
her gown acts as a parachute but John punctures it while she tried to save him
Foal finally released his wings and quickly flies to save them both
They all camp in the night before continuing their journey
In the camp Foal advises John to Leave The empress behind and flee but John doesn't agree
he covers the empress with his cloth while admiring her and sleeps in the cold
The empress who had been eavesdropping on their conversation earlier was flustered at
John's commitment
they arrive at the kingdom the following morning and the people celebrate the arrival of John
while the ladies lust after him
The king and his courtiers are shocked to see that John survived the mission and this
intensifies the hatred the king harbored for John
and The king is forced to reward John again
Later John discusses his love for the virgin Empress with Foal and he decides to give her
flowers
he climbs to the empress's window
and she is glad to see the flowers
John introduces himself to her before she pushed him down when the courtiers entered
her rooms
they ask her to choose the clothes to meet the king
she decides to wear male cloth and goes to the ball to meet the king
The virgin Empress confuses the king for other courtiers because she expects the king to
be young and agile
This infuriates the real king
and he reveals himself but the Empress doesn't believe him until the king shows his face
on the gold necklace
The empress apologizes for her insolence and takes the hand of the king
John expresses his Jealousy to Foal concerning the king's marriage to the empress
The king unveils his plan to marry the empress the next morning
but she opposes the plan saying she can't marry without her grandmother's ring which
has been lost in the sea
John volunteers to find the ring and the king agrees
later While Foal ruminates on John's absurd behaviors he sees the spirit of a whale flying
in the sky
he asks the wind about the location of the ring and the wind tells him it is inside the
belly of a captured whale
that had turned into an island and it points out the direction to Foal
The following morning Foal and John set out
while flying and Foal reveals what the wind told him last night before a group of birds
jam John's face
sending him down into the sea where he sees the captured whale in chains
Foal interprets the whale's language saying she is sorry for her past mistake of eating
up to 100 ships before she sheds a tear
John realizes that she just has to sneeze to break the chains
John and Foal ride into the nostrils of the whale
Foal uses the tip of his feathers to tickle the interior of the whale's nose
it causes her to sneeze and break the chains releasing the trapped ships in the process
Once again John forgets to collect the ring from the whale
but a crab delivers the ring to John and they back home
John and Foal climb up to The empress window to deliver the ring
meanwhile the guards and one of the courtiers watches them from a scope
he discovers Foal can talk and calls him a demon
the Guards forces their way through the empress's room to capture John
so the noise wakes The king up and he takes his gun
he walks up to his window where he sees Foal he shoots him and falls down to the ground
while John is captured
and His crimes are read by the town's messenger
A chick comes to The empress's door and leads her to where Foal is
She reveals to Foal how she told the king about the recipe for eternal youth
which involves boiling 3 large pots of water ice and milk at 3 noon
the next day the courtiers plan to use John to test the recipe first
The Empress reveals that she can cancel the effect of the boiling contents
by dropping her grandmother's ring in the water the Firebird's feather in the ice and
the flower of Life and death in boiling milk
and Foal promises to get the flower
Foal's wings have been injured by the King so he has to run to obtain the Flower
The king allows John gives his last speech where he confesses his love for the empress
before he is pushed into the boiling water
the empress quickly drops her ring into the water
and it pushes John out and lands him inside the pot of ice
where the Firebird drops its feather and it pumps John out and drops him in the boiling
milk
and The empress awaits Foal's arrival
meanwhile the flowers tell Foal that whoever plucks her will die but he doesn't hesitate
before he plucks it
The people think John is dead so they begin to leave
At that moment Foal drops the flower inside the milk and John emerges gracefully from
it
the king quickly rushes into the boiling water and he is engulfed by a bubble that takes
him up into the sky
The people rejoice and make John their king
John and The empress look for Foal and find him where he is waiting for death as per the
flower's words
but the empress explains that the flower says to test the courage of the harvester
then John and the empress are crowned king and queen and the people rejoice