玛利亚（达科塔·布鲁·理查兹 Dakota Blue Richards 饰）的父亲身负重债，逝世后只留给了她一本厚厚的古书《月亮坪的历史》，里面记载着月亮公主与白马的童话。十三岁的玛利亚变成了孤儿，来到月亮坪庄园投靠叔叔本杰明（艾恩·格拉法德 Ioan Gruffudd 饰）。然而入住古堡不久，玛利亚就发现怪事接踵而至：她的东西总是被到处乱放，屋里的钢琴会自动演奏，夜里甚至有一匹白马的影子在屋外晃荡……然而对于这些疑问叔叔却只字不肯透露，玛利亚只好偷偷翻阅那本被叔叔藏起来了的古书，终于得知了月亮坪上一段久远的神秘往事与仇怨，原来整个山谷已被月亮公主的诅咒笼罩百年，唯有等待一位拥有纯真心灵的解咒人出现…… 本片改编自英国儿童文学作家伊丽莎白·古吉的经典小说《古堡里的月亮公主》。
故事发生在十六世纪的西班牙，彼时，西班牙和英国正在激烈的交战之中打得难舍难分。英国舰队的舰长理查（Lyn Harding 饰）和其子迈克尔（劳伦斯·奥利弗 Laurence Olivier 饰）遭到了地方的俘虏，然而理查和西班牙海军上将瓦德斯（Charles Carson 饰）是多年的老友，于是将迈克尔送到他家，自己却死在了敌人的炮火之下。 在瓦德斯家，迈克尔遇见了瓦德斯的女儿辛西娅（费雯·丽 Vivien Leigh 饰），辛西娅爱慕着英俊有为的迈克尔，但迈克尔却怀揣着满腔对于敌人的愤怒回到英国效忠女王。之后，迈克尔隐姓埋名，乔装打扮来到西班牙执行卧底任务，被国王安排住在希拉里（詹姆斯·梅森 James Mason 饰）家中，没想到却在此遇见了已经成为希拉里妻子的辛西娅。
To win the hand of the caliph of Bagdad’s daughter (played by Julanne Johnston), a thief (Fairbanks) embarks on a dangerous and mystical journey to secure the most desirable treasure imaginable. The film was a popular success, and Fairbanks made women swoon as one of the screen’s first superstars. Known for his dashing demeanour and incredible stunts, Fairbanks, who would also routinely contribute to the scripts of his films under the pseudonym Elton Thomas, actually created the story for this version of The Thief of Bagdad and included types of special effects and production design never previously seen by audiences. The film was remade several times, of which the most notable is the 1940 British film directed by Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, and Tim Whelan.