Based on the popular novel by Jin Yong Kam Yung. He also wrote Legend of the Condor Heroes and Return of the Condor Heroes. The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre takes place during 14th Century China during the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, roughly 100 years after the events of Return of the Condor Heroes. After decades of struggles, famine, and bitterness which the Chinese citizens blamed on the Yuan Dynasty’s misgovernment, the Martial Arts sects have begun to rebel. Prince Ruyong asks Cheng Kun, a Shaolin monk with an ulterior motive, for a plan on how to deal with the rebels.
“The wielder of Heavenly Sword and/or Dragon Sabre rules the world.”
張翠山（任達華 飾）系武當派掌門人張三豐（鮑方 飾）的第五代弟子，某日，他遭到了金毛獅王謝遜（曾江 飾）的挾持，來到了冰火島上。在那裡，張翠山邂逅了天鷹教教主的女兒殷素素（鄭裕玲 飾），兩人情投意合，結為夫妻，生了一個孩子取名張無忌（梁朝偉 飾）。
一晃眼十年過去，張翠山攜妻子重出江湖，沒想到卻遭到了武林各大門派的圍剿，只為了問出傳說中屠龍寶刀的下落，最終，張翠山和殷素素雙雙自殺，將復仇之任託付給了尚且年幼的張無忌。隨著時間的推移，張無忌漸漸長大，在機緣巧合之下得到了九陰真經，練就神功。最終，張無忌聯手明教為父母報了仇。
