''Prospero's Books'' is a complex tale based upon William Shakespeare's ''The Tempest (play)''. Miranda (The Tempest), the daughter of Prospero, an exiled magician, falls in love with Ferdinand (The Tempest), the son of his enemy; while the sorcerer's sprite, Ariel (The Tempest), convinces him to abandon revenge against the traitors from his earlier life. In the film, Prospero stands in for Shakespeare himself, and is seen writing and speaking the story's action as it unfolds.