The movie is set in Susa. King Xerxes holds a great feast for all the people to attend. Hadassah (the main protagonist) longs to go to Jerusalem to see the Holy Land and prepares to leave with the caravan along with her friend, Jesse Ben-Joseph. They stop by the King’s feast before marching to war to avenge his father’s death. Hadassah and Jesse witness the King summoning Queen Vashti. Queen Vashti was opposed to the war, desiring King Xerxes to enhance his kingdom instead. She holds her own feast in protest to the war. When the king summons her to his own feast, she refuses to come stating, “I am queen, and I will not lower my dignity… or shame my crown by wearing it before your drunk, and thinly veiled war council.” Because of this, King Xerxes is advised to banish her and select a more worthy queen.
All beautiful virgin women in the stronghold of Susa are brought in so Xerxes could leave behind a queen to keep the kingdom unified. Under the command of her foster-father, “Uncle Mordecai” (who was one of the king’s scribes and worked in the palace), Hadassah does not reveal her nationality or family and changes her name to “Esther” (after the Babylonian goddess Ishtar). She is taken in with the rest of the selected women and given cosmetics, perfumes, and treatments under the care of Hegai, the king’s royal eunuch. Through her quick wit, intelligence, and integrity, she becomes Hegai’s favorite contestant.
On their night with the king, the contestants are allowed to bring whatever they wished with them from the harem. They went in the evening and returned in the morning to a second harem to another royal eunuch who was custodian to the concubines. They would not be able to return to the king unless she pleased him and he summoned her by name. During their preparation, Hegai discovers Esther could read and listens to her reading to the other contestants. He admires her bravery, and stamina. Late into the night, he brings her to King Xerxes to read to him. She starts reading from the assigned scroll and then begins telling the love story of Jacob and Rachel (from the Old Testament). He is amused and intrigued and dismisses her, saying she would read to him again. From this interaction, Esther falls in love with the King. When it is Esther’s turn for her ‘one night with the king’, she only wears what Hegai advises. She wins the kings favor by revealing her heart to him. He chooses her and crowns her queen.
Simultaneously, Haman is promoted to the highest-ranking official. He has all the king’s servants at the royal gate to kneel before him. Mordecai refuses, declaring he will only kneel before God and the king. He announces himself before Haman to be a son of Abraham, a Jew. Because of this, Haman, filled with vengeance and hatred, seeks to destroy Mordecai and all his people.
Esther discovers the plot and breaks protocol by going before the king unsummoned, risking her life to plead for her people. The king lowers his scepter to her and spares her life out of his love for her. She invites the king and Haman to a banquet and there reveals her nationality and the Haman’s plot to kill the Jews. The king, overwhelmed by her revelation, leaves the banquet. Haman then assaults Esther. The king saves her and, in his fury, commands Haman be hung on the gallows he erected to hang Mordecai for revenge. After Haman is taken away, the king goes to Esther's side. Esther asks, "What made you come back?" And the king responds with, "I saw the stars." Then King Xerxes kisses Esther, with the camera pulling away from the small temple.
The ending shows Mordecai being made the Prince of Persia and him making a decree in his name, with flashbacks of when Esther was made Queen and the crowd of Jews cheering in the streets. In the last scenes the camera shows the small temple and Mordecai saying, "Thus dictated, I order this decree sent out under the great seal of Mordecai, Prince of Persia, a Jew."
All beautiful virgin women in the stronghold of Susa are brought in so Xerxes could leave behind a queen to keep the kingdom unified. Under the command of her foster-father, “Uncle Mordecai” (who was one of the king’s scribes and worked in the palace), Hadassah does not reveal her nationality or family and changes her name to “Esther” (after the Babylonian goddess Ishtar). She is taken in with the rest of the selected women and given cosmetics, perfumes, and treatments under the care of Hegai, the king’s royal eunuch. Through her quick wit, intelligence, and integrity, she becomes Hegai’s favorite contestant.
On their night with the king, the contestants are allowed to bring whatever they wished with them from the harem. They went in the evening and returned in the morning to a second harem to another royal eunuch who was custodian to the concubines. They would not be able to return to the king unless she pleased him and he summoned her by name. During their preparation, Hegai discovers Esther could read and listens to her reading to the other contestants. He admires her bravery, and stamina. Late into the night, he brings her to King Xerxes to read to him. She starts reading from the assigned scroll and then begins telling the love story of Jacob and Rachel (from the Old Testament). He is amused and intrigued and dismisses her, saying she would read to him again. From this interaction, Esther falls in love with the King. When it is Esther’s turn for her ‘one night with the king’, she only wears what Hegai advises. She wins the kings favor by revealing her heart to him. He chooses her and crowns her queen.
Simultaneously, Haman is promoted to the highest-ranking official. He has all the king’s servants at the royal gate to kneel before him. Mordecai refuses, declaring he will only kneel before God and the king. He announces himself before Haman to be a son of Abraham, a Jew. Because of this, Haman, filled with vengeance and hatred, seeks to destroy Mordecai and all his people.
Esther discovers the plot and breaks protocol by going before the king unsummoned, risking her life to plead for her people. The king lowers his scepter to her and spares her life out of his love for her. She invites the king and Haman to a banquet and there reveals her nationality and the Haman’s plot to kill the Jews. The king, overwhelmed by her revelation, leaves the banquet. Haman then assaults Esther. The king saves her and, in his fury, commands Haman be hung on the gallows he erected to hang Mordecai for revenge. After Haman is taken away, the king goes to Esther's side. Esther asks, "What made you come back?" And the king responds with, "I saw the stars." Then King Xerxes kisses Esther, with the camera pulling away from the small temple.
The ending shows Mordecai being made the Prince of Persia and him making a decree in his name, with flashbacks of when Esther was made Queen and the crowd of Jews cheering in the streets. In the last scenes the camera shows the small temple and Mordecai saying, "Thus dictated, I order this decree sent out under the great seal of Mordecai, Prince of Persia, a Jew."
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