Bombs fall over a Greek village during World War II, and a teacher takes her students to a cave for shelter. There she tells them about another war --- when the Greeks besieged Troy. Day after day, she recounts how the Greeks suffer from thirst, heat and homesickness, and how the opponents meet. Helmets are cleaved, heads fly, blood flows. And everything had begun when Prince Paris of Troy fell in love with King Menelaus of Sparta's wife, the beautiful Helen, and escaped with her to his homeland. Now Helen stands atop the city walls to witness the horrors set in motion by her flight. When her current and former loves face each other in battle, she knows that, whatever happens, she will be losing.