In this romantic musical film based upon a folktale by Isaac Bashevis Singer and retold by Barbra Streisand, Rebbe Mendel (Nehemiah Persoff) is a single father who teaches Talmud to boys in his Polish shtetl. Behind closed doors, however, he also instructs his daughter, Yentl (Barbra Streisand), despite the fact that girls are forbidden to study religious scripture. When Yentl’s father dies, her desire for an education remains; she cuts off her hair, dons baggy pants, heads for the Yeshiva - where she successfully passes as male - and unexpectedly finds love along the way.