For twelve years, Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, has been living on a remote, uninhabited Mediterranean Island with only his daughter Miranda, the son of the island’s former ruler, and the spirit Ariel. Prospero has learned the magical arts through deep meditative study, and at the play’s beginning, he causes a tempest to overtake the surrounding waters, shipwrecking the enemies responsible for his exile. The boat’s passengers are scattered, and the state of the island is thrown into chaos as murder plots, drunken foolery, and love-at-first-sight become the order of the day.