Haroun-al-Plassid is the benign ruler of Baghdad, but his scheming Grand Vizier Iznogoud is not happy with this state of affairs. Always on the lookout for ways to 'become Caliph instead of the Caliph', he commissions a one-way flying carpet as a gift to his liege, which he hopes will transport him off to the end of the world. But the hired help is as inept as usual, much to the inconvenience of the people of...Beijing!