Sir Perceval of Wales, knight of the Round Table and liegeman of King Arthur, loses his way in the forest on one twilight eve and comes to a barren, rocky wasteland, where the very air he breathes is sickening. There he meets the mysterious ruler of that land, the Fisher King, who suffers from a hideous and crippling wound that cannot be healed. Spending the night in the Fisher King's castle, Perceval witnesses the procession of the veiled maidens carrying the grail, a golden dish of magical power. That night will set Perceval upon a quest that will see him turned into a pariah, reject and recover his faith, and ultimately be forced to face the prospect of a defeat he could never have imagined.

Drawing on the tradition of grail legends written by Chretien de Troyes and Wolfram of Eschenbach that recount the adventures of Perceval, The Cruelty of the Fisher King is a meditation upon moral accountability, faith, and fate.