When Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) receives an urgent message that his mother is ill, he quickly heads home with Iolaus (Michael Hurst). There Jason (Jeffrey Thomas) reveals that Alcmene (Liddy Holloway) has been suffering from chest pains and he fears that her heart is giving out. Putting on a brave face, Hercules joins his mother in the garden and the two begin reminiscing about the first time he went off to war. As the scene fades into the past, young Hercules (Ian Bohen) is in the garden with young Alcmene (Kim Michalis) when young Iolaus (Dean O'Gorman) and young Jason (Chris Conrad) arrive with bad news. The Parthans have invaded Caylan territory and the boys are determined to help longtime ally King Eteocles (Ray Woolf) drive them off. Hercules feels compelled to join them despite his mother's grave misgivings.
When the three friends arrive at the Caylan base camp, King Eteocles explains that two summers earlier, he offered hunting privileges in the western region of his kingdom to the Parthans, who were suffering a terrible drought. Now the Parthans are claiming the territory as their own. He has sent a small battallion into enemy territory to establish a foothold so he can lead a charge inside. Young Jason is honored when Eteocles asks him to serve as his second in command. Inside the camp, Hercules and his buddies runs into Calimachus (Ian Hughes), a friend and fellow alumnus of Cheiron's academy, who is serving as the battallion's medic. Led by Eteocles, he and the rest of the platoon, including Hercules and his buddies, soon move out into the dense forest under siege by the Parthans. Suddenly, a party of enemy warriors drops from the trees and the fight is on. Nikos (Glen Drake), a young Caylan soldier, loses his forearm to one of the sword-wielding attackers. When Jason accidentally makes a wrong move, exposing the king's back, an enemy soldier kills Eteocles. Just as the attacker is about to kill Jason, Hercules steps in to save him. The battle ends quickly and as Calimachus tends to the gravely injured Nikos, a devastated Jason cradles the dying king who tells him that the war is now his.
Back in the present, during a trip to the marketplace, Alcmene finally admits to Hercules that she's dying and urges him to reconcile with his father, Zeus (Roy Dotrice). When she suddenly falters and loses her step, Hercules picks her up in his arms and takes her home. Back in the past, Hercules, Iolaus, Jason and Calimachus, supporting the badly wounded Nikos, make it into a trench filled with Caylan casualties. Calimachus cauterizes Nikos' wound, but the young soldier dies that night while the others take turns on watch. At dawn, the four men hear a moaning sound coming from the No Man's Land beyond the trench and Hercules insists on going after the wounded man, even if he is an enemy soldier. Brave young Calimachus soon follows with his medical pack. They finally reach the downed Parthan warrior Teresius (Matt Walker), a 17-year-old boy with a gaping leg wound. As they prepare to move him to safety, Calimachus is hit with an arrow in the gut. Caught in enemy crossfire, Hercules barely manages to drag both men back to the trench. The defiant Teresius is anything but grateful as Hercules tends to his wounds. Suddenly, the whole trench is set ablaze by fire bombs shot from a cannon. Near death, Calimachus yanks a medallion containing healing herbs from his neck and hands it to Hercules. Stuggling to his feet, he takes off into No Man's Land in order to draw enemy fire, giving his comrades a chance to break for the woods. Calimachus soon takes a shot in the neck and dies a hero. Hercules cuts short an angry exchange between Jason and Teresius to impress upon both of them the importance of ending the war. Hercules ultimately persuades Teresius to help them get an audience with his king. As they approach the castle, Teresius convinces the guards to hold their fire while his three companions drop to there knees and surrender. When King Stavros (Martin Baynton) arrives, he is suprised to learn that Teresius' life was saved by Hercules and his comrades and that the young men have come of their own free will. Young Hercules and Jason make an offer of peace, urging the king to share the disputed land with the Caylans. The king finally agrees and orders a cease-fire on all fronts. Weary and war-torn, young Hercules returns home to his mother and gives Calimachus' medallion to her, insisting he doesn't deserve it.
Back in the present, Hercules, Jason and Iolaus are at Alcmene's bedside as she returns Calimachus' medallion to her beloved son, who is overwhelmed with emotion. When Alcmene passes away, she is buried by Hercules and his friends overlooking her beautiful garden. Hercules goes off to be alone and in a sudden burst of anger, smashes a boulder. Suddenly, he hears a familiar voice and is shocked when he whirls around to find Zeus standing there.
Starring: Kevin Sorbo (Hercules), Michael Hurst (Iolaus)
Guest Starring: Roy Dotrice (Zeus), Chris Conrad (Young Jason), Dean O'Gorman (Young Iolaus), Ian Bohen (Young Hercules), Liddy Holloway (Alcmene), Jeffrey Thomas (Jason), Kim Michalis (Young Alcmene), Ian Hughes (Calimachus), Matt Walker (Teresius), Ray Woolf (Eteocles), Martin Baynton (King Starvos), Glen Drake (Nikos), Paul Paice (Captain of the Guards)
Written by Gene O'Neill & Noreen Tobin and Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci
Directed by Philip Sgriccia