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A magical stone atop Mount Huaguo splits open to release a monkey nourished by heaven and earth. After discovering the Water Curtain Cave behind a roaring waterfall, he is acclaimed king by his fellow primates. Driven by the fear of mortality, he sails across vast oceans to find Patriarch Subhuti and learn the secrets of eternal life.
Patriarch Subhuti secretly imparts the secret of immortality through hidden nocturnal lessons. Sun Wukong quickly learns the seventy-two transformations and the somersault cloud that covers thousands of leagues in a single leap. Pride leads him to boast before fellow disciples, prompting the master to banish him forever with a strict warning never to speak his name.
Seeking a weapon fit for his power, Wukong visits the East Sea Dragon King Ao Guang and claims the compliant Ruyi Jingu Bang iron staff. When subterranean spirits drag his soul to the Underworld, he terrorizes King Yama and crosses out his name along with all monkeys from the Register of Life and Death. Heaven receives urgent petitions demanding his suppression.
The Jade Emperor attempts pacification by offering Wukong an administrative position in the celestial stables as Keeper of Horses. Upon learning that Bimawen is an insultingly low rank, Wukong smashes his office and returns to Mount Huaguo. He defeats heavenly commanders and forces Heaven to grant him the supreme title Great Sage Equaling Heaven.
Assigned to oversee the Peach Orchard, Wukong devours the sacred fruits of immortality reserved for celestial deities. Excluded from the Empress Mother's grand banquet, he infiltrates the feast, drinks sacred wine, and steals Taishang Laojun's alchemical pills. Realizing his crimes, he flees back to his mountain hideout while Heaven mobilizes its entire army.
Guanyin recommends her nephew Erlang Shen to lead the battle against the rebellious monkey king. A legendary duel unfolds as both combatants transform into various birds, fish, and beasts to outwit each other. Taishang Laojun drops his divine Diamond Snare from Heaven, striking Wukong on the head and allowing Erlang to bind him.
Executioners fail to harm Wukong, so Taishang Laojun burns him inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace for forty-nine days. Wukong emerges unharmed with fiery golden eyes, escaping to wreck havoc across the imperial palace. Buddha arrives, challenges Wukong to leap from his palm, and traps him beneath the Five Elements Mountain for five hundred years.
Seeking to enlighten eastern lands, Buddha sends Guanyin to Chang'an to locate a devout monk who will retrieve sacred sutras. Along her journey south, she recruits reformed demons—the sand monster Sha Wujing, the fallen general Zhu Bajie, and the imprisoned Wukong—as guardians for the pilgrim. Each monster agrees to serve in exchange for absolution.
A fortune teller named Yuan Shoucheng predicts exact catches for local fishermen, angering the Jing River Dragon King. In an effort to discredit the fortune teller, the dragon manipulates timing and rainfall amounts, violating strict celestial decrees. Facing execution, the desperate dragon appeals to Tang Emperor Taizong to save him from executioner Wei Zheng.
Prime Minister Wei Zheng beheads the Dragon King in a dream while playing chess with Emperor Taizong. The dragon's vengeful ghost haunts Taizong's palace, dragging the sick emperor into the Underworld. Guided by official Cui Jue, Taizong tours hellish realms, receives twenty additional years of life, and vows to hold a grand ritual for lost souls upon returning.
Emperor Taizong resumes his throne and honors his underworld oath by organizing a massive Buddhist assembly in Chang'an. High officials select Xuanzang, a virtuous young monk of flawless lineage, to lead the sacred Water and Land Ceremony. Taizong distributes royal wealth to feed the needy and prepare spiritual offerings for wandering spirits.
Guanyin appears in Chang'an disguised as a beggar, offering Buddha's sacred brocade kasaya and nine-ring staff to the worthy monk Xuanzang. She reveals that true Mahayana scriptures lie thousands of leagues away at Thunder Monastery in India. Moved by sacred purpose, Xuanzang accepts the title Tang Sanzang, and Emperor Taizong pledges brotherhood before sending him forth.
Venturing past China's frontier, Sanzang and his companions are ambushed by the tiger demon Yinchong at Shuangcha Ridge. Sanzang watches helplessly as his retainers are devoured before divine spirits intervene to spare his life. A brave hunter named Liu Boqin guides the traumatized monk through perilous mountain terrain toward the border line.
Sanzang frees Sun Wukong from Five Elements Mountain, securing him as his first protector. When Wukong brutally slays six mountain robbers, Sanzang harshly reprimands his violence, causing the temperamental monkey to fly away. Guanyin tricks Wukong into wearing a gold-fillet cap, giving Sanzang a secret spell to induce agony whenever disobedience occurs.
Arriving at Eagle Grief Stream, pilgrim and master are attacked by a white dragon lurking in the deep waters. The dragon swallows Sanzang's travel horse, forcing Wukong into a difficult aerial and aquatic combat. Guanyin intervenes, explaining that the dragon is a sinning prince appointed by heaven, who transforms himself into a white horse to serve Sanzang.
An elder monk named Jinchi at Guanyin Monastery grows overcome with envy upon seeing Sanzang's divine kasaya robe. Plotting to possess the treasure forever, Jinchi orders his monks to pile firewood around the pilgrims' chamber and set it ablaze. Wukong discovers the plot, borrows a fire-repelling mantle from heaven, and lets the flames consume the rest of the monastery.
Amid the fire chaos, a nearby Black Bear Demon steals the divine kasaya from the burning monastery. Wukong tracks the demon to Black Wind Cave but struggles to defeat his formidable dark magic in combat. Guanyin assists Wukong by tricking the demon into swallowing a magic pill, placing a restrictive ring on his head, and appointing him mountain guardian.
The pilgrims arrive at Gao Village, where squire Gao seeks help against a monstrous monster who forcibly wed his daughter Gao Ts'ui-lan. Wukong discovers the monster possesses immense strength and wields a nine-toothed rake. Disguising himself as the daughter, Wukong taunts the creature before revealing his true form and pursuing him to Cloud Pathway Cave.
Wukong battles the monster at his mountain den until the creature hears that Sanzang is seeking scriptures for Heaven. Revealing his original identity as Marshal Tianpeng banished from Heaven for drunkenness, he pledges submission to the Buddhist faith. Sanzang welcomes him as his second disciple, bestowing upon him the name Zhu Bajie, meaning Pig Eight Precepts.
Journeying through Yellow Wind Ridge, the group encounters a ferocious tiger vanguard who lures Wukong and Bajie away with a decoy hide. Meanwhile, the Yellow Wind Demon swoops in and snatches Sanzang into his cavern stronghold. When Wukong attacks the cave, the demon unleashes a hurricane of Yellow Wind dust that temporarily blinds the monkey king's fiery eyes.
Lingji Bodhisattva assists Wukong by providing eye medicine and taking up divine relics against the storm. Armed with the Wind-Soothing Pill and a Flying Dragon Staff, Lingji halts the hurricane and transforms the demon into a yellow mink rat. Sanzang is unharmed and saved from the deep cavern stronghold.
The journey is blocked by the eighty-league-wide Flowing Sand River, where a violent water demon attacks from the waves. Wukong and Bajie fight the demon repeatedly, but he retreats into deep water where Wukong cannot unleash his full power. Guanyin sends her disciple Moksha to convert the demon, who becomes Sha Wujing, Sanzang's third loyal disciple.
Four Bodhisattvas transform into a wealthy widow and her three beautiful daughters to test the spiritual commitment of the pilgrims. While Sanzang, Wukong, and Wujing remain steadfast, Bajie succumbs to greed and lust, eager to marry into the family. The divine beings bound him in a hanging net, leaving him suspended in a tree as a comical lesson.
Arriving at Mount Wanshou, the pilgrims visit Wuzhuang Temple, where immortal master Zhenyuan holds rare Ginseng Fruits that grant thousands of years of life. When two novice disciples insult Wukong over stolen fruit, Wukong uproots the sacred Ginseng Tree in a fit of rage. Zhenyuan captures the entire party with his sleeve magic, demanding the tree be restored.
A classic Chinese epic tracing a Buddhist monk and his mythical guardians on a hazardous pilgrimage to India.