Brutus and Cassius are dead at Philippi, leaving two men to inherit the world. One is twenty-year-old Octavian, whose brilliance, subtlety and political cunning give the lie to his small, sickly appearance. The other is Mark Antony, a man in his prime - proven on the battlefields of war, politics and love. But in Alexandria sits Egypt's queen, Cleopatra, mourning the death of Julius Caesar, yet utterly focused on attaining world power for her only son, Caesarion. In order to achieve this, she must seduce and hold in thrall either Octavian or Antony.