Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) is in Cyreneia, the village where he and his beloved Serena were once so happy, when he rushes to Falafel's (Paul Norell) aid to protect him from some bullies. The ensuing brawl is suddenly interrupted when everyone but Hercules freezes. Spying Falafel's sandglass suspended in mid-air, an astonished Hercules realizes that someone has stopped time. The culprit turns out to be Autolycus (Bruce Campbell), who has managed to steal the magnificent Chronos gemstone from King Quallus' (Ian Watkin) palace museum. Autolycus is experimenting with the powers of the stone to alter time when he runs into Hercules in the marketplace. When Hercules tries to grab the gem, insisting it was never meant to fall into the hands of a mere mortal, Autolycus releases the town bullies from their frozen state to resume the marketplace brawl. As Hercules fights them off, Autolycus begins stroking the Chronos stone, causing it to glow. Suddenly, he and Hercules disappear in a flash. A split second later, they reappear in Cyreneia, having traveled five years back in time.
Autolycus starts to panic when the Chronos stone is crushed under the wheels of an approaching wagon, but when Hercules reminds him that the undamaged stone still exists in the time in which they now find themselves, the king of thieves brightens and vows to steal the gem back. Hercules warns Autolycus that he must avoid interfering with the timeline, but soon ignores his own advice to save the life of a little boy. He then notices a firestorm of lightning in the distance and takes off to investigate while Autolycus heads for Quallus' palace. In an open field scorched by Zeus' thunderbolts, Hercules is shocked to see several Golden Hinds lying dead on the ground. As one last Hind races out of the forest to survey the horrible scene, Ares (Kevin Smith), watching nearby with his nephew Strife (Joel Tobeck), explains that Zeus has directed his wrath against the beautiful creatures because their blood has the power to kill gods. Ares gently approaches the remaining Hind and provides her with a disguise by inducing her transformation into the lovely human form of Serena for the very first time. Ironically, an astonished Hercules is witness to this pivotal moment between his beloved Serena and the ruthless Ares. Hercules begs Ares to leave her alone, knowing the tragic end which lies in store for her, but Ares refuses.
Meanwhile, Autolycus sneaks into King Quallus' palace and finds himself face-to-face with a younger version of himself! The younger Autolycus is stunned to learn that the robbery he is about to commit is destined to fail, and agrees to join forces with his elder counterpart to steal the Chronos stone. The "twins" get caught in a passsageway trap, however, and are thrown into the king's dungeon. At the same time, Hercules secretly follows Serena and intervenes to save her from a hunter when she morphs back into the Golden Hind. But a short while later, she is wounded by an arrow, which Ares removes when he suddenly reappears to offer her protection once more. Back at his temple, Ares hints to Strife that he wishes he could use the blood-soaked arrow to kill Hercules without angering the rest of the gods. Eager to impress his uncle, the ambitious young Strife goes after Hercules and shoots him with the arrow. Serena finds him delirious and uses her remarkable healing powers to save him from death. Loving her fiercely, Hercules can barely keep himself from interfering in her destiny.
In the meantime, the "twin" Autolyci manage a spectacular escape from the king's dungeon, but are thwarted when they make another attempt to steal the stone. They flee to the woods where they meet Hercules, who tells them about having seen his beloved Serena once more. Later in the forest, after Serena tells Hercules she's decided to follow Ares, the god of war appears and slashes her side with a dagger. Hercules rushes to her defense and narrowly escapes being murdered by Ares, who is wielding the dagger soaked in the blood of the Hind. Hercules ultimately forces Ares at dagger-point to spare the Hind's human half. As the Hind perishes, the god-killing blood on the dagger disappears and the beautiful Serena is left alive. Meanwhile, Autolycus leaves his younger self behind and heads for the palace museum where he steals the Chronos stone right out from under the noses of the guards, who are expecting the "twin" Autolyci to strike. Back in the village marketplace, he runs into Hercules and Serena. As Hercules bids Serena farewell, he finally tells her his name. Then, with the help of the Chronos stone, Hercules and Autolycus become time travelers into the future once more, returning to the Cyreneia they left. Before the wily Autolycus can make off with the stone again, Hercules crushes it to dust. Then, much to his amazement, he runs into Serena, now a happy wife and mother in the village. In changing the course of history to give Serena her life back, Hercules has wiped out everything they would have shared together.
Starring: Kevin Sorbo (Hercules)
Guest Starring: Kara Zediker (Serena/The Golden Hind), Kevin Smith (Ares), Joel Tobeck (Strife), Bruce Campbell (Autolycus), Paul Norell (Falafel), David Mackie (Hemnor), Ian Watkin (King Quallus), Grant McFarland (Shellus), Mike Howell (Head Guard), Marek Sumich (Head Rowdy), Heidi Jeory (Mother), Ruth Morrison (Serena's Child), Peter Feeney (The Other Autolycus)
Written by Paul Robert Coyle
Directed by James Whitmore, Jr.
Trivia: In this episode, Falafel invents a contraption that measures the exact boiling time of eggs. He calls this contraption the Falafelometer.