The work begins with the statement that the powerful kingdom of Arabia is ruled by the king Rostevan. He had no son, only a daughter, Tinatin, who was exceptionally beautiful. As the author claims, her beauty couldn’t even be compared to the beauty of the sun. Avtandil, raised by the King of Arabia was a young nobleman who happened to be secretly in love with Tinatin.
The King believed that since he only had a daughter it would be a wise decision to let her reign while he was still alive. After Tinatin’s inauguration took place. Rostevan, Avtandil and their army left for hunting.
While they were hunting, the king noticed a stranger wearing a tiger's skin and weeping headlong. The stranger was accompanied by a beautiful black horse. The king was intrigued by the story of the stranger and ordered his warriors to capture a stranger and bring him to him. But not everything befell as the king had hoped. Upon seeing the fighters, the stranger returned from deep thoughts of the unknown, stopped crying, severely beat the fighters and disappeared. Even so that no one on earth was able to find him. The king was shocked by what had happened and became desperate.
He even came to the idea that it all just happened in his mind or that the man was an actual devil, but the king's daughter did not think so. Afterward, Tinatin summoned Avtandil in her room and revealed to him that she was well aware of his feelings for her and she felt the same way. But in order for them to be together, Avtandil had to prove his love for Tinatin by accomplishing a quest. Young Arab was ordered to find the strange man they came across while hunting and deliver him to the king. He was given 3 years to complete this task and in case he succeeded his reward would be Tinatin herself.
Avtandil took off. He was unsuccessfully searching for an unknown man for almost 3 years and had completely lost his hope. It was during this tribulation that he found the stranger. He knew that talking to him would be completely useless since this was the case at their first meeting when the stranger chose to fight and killed all the king’s warriors. so Avtandil followed the stranger for two days and when he got to the cave, where he happened to live, Avtandil now climbed a tree and continued observing from there. The stranger left the cave early in the morning. Avtandil decided it was time for him to show up and examine the cave. And when he approached it, he was welcomed by a woman wearing black clothes, who mistook Avtandil for his “cavemate”.
She became frightened was screaming the name “Tariel” in hopes of him hearing the screech and rescuing her. Avtandil managed to reassure the lady and found out that Tariel was the name of a man he was looking for. As it turned out, he was heir to the throne of India. At that time, India was divided into seven parts. The six of them were ruled by Farsadan. The ruler of the seventh one was Saridan, Tariel’s father. Farsadan had no children so he decided to adopt Tariel and this way two kingdoms would unite after his death. However, soon after he adopted him, the king’s wife gave birth to a daughter called Nestan-Daredjan, with whom Tariel fell in love with.
Nestan had the same feelings for Tariel and decided to let him know about it. She sent her servant, Asmat (woman in black in Tariel’s cave) to inform Tariel about Nestan’s intentions. Tariel was thrilled to hear about his sweetheart had been feeling the same way. However, this was not the only thing Nestan had told him through Asmat. Tariel was ordered to fight the neighboring vassal country who had refused to pay the tribute. It was an easy quest for an experienced soldier and so he did it. The situation has changed here. Nestan's father decided to find a fiance for his daughter and so he did. Tariel killed Nestan's fiancé while he was in India with all his troops. This angered the king. Moreover, it made him realize that Tariel and Nestan had loved each other. The king blames Nestan’s inappropriate behavior on her sister who happened to be Nestan’s caretaker.
Davar, the king’s sister, who was threatened to be killed by her own brother becomes angry and orders two black servants to put Nestan in a small chest and throw it in the sea. Tinatin gets lost and Tariel keeps searching for her endlessly, that is the reason for his eternal sadness. Avtandil promises to help him find his sweetheart at any cost.After a great adventure, Avtandil and Tariel find Nestan. On the way, they will meet Fridon who will help them find Nestan. It turned out that the princess was locked in the tower. Tariel, Pridon, and Avtandil will fight and save Nestan. Tariel and Nestan will be having a big wedding together with Avtandil and Tinatin. Thus ends the story.
