After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.

In documentary style, Al Pacino tells the story of how he came to stage a production of Oscar Wilde's Salomé. He travels to the Mojave Desert ("dessert?"), to Ireland and the United Kingdom to show who Wilde was as a private person and as a writer.