In 1914, aliens known as Mondoshawans arrive at an ancient Egyptian temple to collect, for safekeeping from World War I, the only weapon capable of defeating a great evil that appears every 5,000 years. The weapon consists of four stones, containing the essences of the four classical elements, and a sarcophagus containing a Fifth Element in the form of a human, which combines the power of the other four into a divine light capable of defeating the evil. The Mondoshawans promise their human contact, a priest from a secret order, they will come back with the weapon in time to stop the great evil when it returns.