Several story-lines are intertwined in Moscow under Stalin and in Jerusalem under Pilate in 1930s. Master is a talented writer in Moscow working on a manuscript about the biblical Jesus and Pontius Pilate. Authorities in Moscow are harassing him by surveillance and intimidation. Victimized by their harassment, he throws his manuscript into the fire, before he is locked up in a mental clinic. His assistant and Muse Margarita uses the supernatural powers of Woland, trying to help him.