On a late summer night in 18th century Poland, a Jewish wanderer enters a tavern in a small shtetl and tells a tale of his late master and teacher, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the holy Baal Shem Tov. And not just any tale: This will be the tale of how the Baal Shem Tov once spent a long night in a remote forest hut with a lamed vovnik, one of the thirty-six hidden saints who, according to Jewish legend, sustain the world through their righteousness – even though outwardly they lead lives of bitter poverty and humble obscurity. Yet as the tale progresses, and the hidden saint reveals more of his past, it becomes apparent that darker forces are afoot.

The Twisted Path of the Hidden Saint: An Occult Tale of the Baal Shem Tov is a dark, twisted story of evil and sorcery, and how the striving for goodness can be manipulated and perverted.