In the waning days of the sixteenth century, the legendary English alchemist and astrologer John Dee flees to Prague, pursued by a terrifying demon. It is a time of great change, of strife and persecution, when darkness and chaos threaten to overcome the forces of light and reason.

Seeking out the mystic Rabbi Judah Loew, Dee assists him in the creation of a Golem -- a man fashioned from the clay -- to defend the city's Jewish Quarter from persecution. Together they begin a desperate search to find the fabled 36th Righteous Man, before he is slain by the Mad Emperor Rudolf. For ancient prophecies foretell that if the last righteous man dies, the world will end, and dark spirits will remake it in their own image.