Sun Wu Kong, punished by Buddha centuries before, has spent five hundred years buried under Five-Finger Mountain when he encounters San Zang, a priest headed west in search of Buddhist scriptures. On the Goddess of Mercy's instructions, Wu Kong frees himself and assists the priest on a journey to the west that will be fraught with peril. But San Zang soon learns that trouble won't come only in the form of dragons or bandits; it will come from the violent and impetuous monkey who is now his companion.