Sold into slavery as a young boy and sentenced to spend out the rest of his adult life laboring in the harsh deserts of Egypt, Spartacus gets a new lease on life when he is purchased by the owner of a Roman gladiator school. Moved by the defiance of an Ethopian warrior, Draba, Spartacus leads a slave uprising which threatens Rome's status quo. As Spartacus gains sympathy within the Roman Senate, he also makes a powerful enemy in form of Marcus Lucinius Crassus, who makes it a matter of personal honor to crush the rebellion.