A hard edged story of lust and violence set around the Coloseum in Ancient Rome.
Condemned as a slave to the galleys Marcus is reprieved by rich Roman merchant Gauis and recruited to train as a gladiator in his school outside Rome. There Marcus endures the horror and savagery of a gladiator's life but finds love in the arms of his master's beautiful daughter Julia.
Unfortunately he has a murderous rival in the form of spoilt young aristocrat Dracus.