In this fractured folk tale based on a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Mazel and Shlimazel, the spirits of Good Luck and Bad Luck, make a bet to determine who is the more powerful. The terms: Mazel will take a hapless young man named Tam under her wing for one year, at the end of which Shlimazel will attempt to undo everything she's done in one second. That's the point at which Tam and the princess with whom he's fallen in love have to rely upon their own ingenuity to save the kingdom and keep Tam's neck out of the hangman's noose. Along the way, matters are complicated by a crafty prime minister, a superstitious nurse, and a lion on the loose!