After Hercules and his friend Iolaus stopped a band of hoodlums from robbing an innkeeper, Hercules went home to his family. The horror that followed was over almost before it started. A huge ball of fire burst through his bedroom window and consumed his wife, Deianeira. In the next instant the fireball took Hercules' three young children. His step mother, Hera, was to blame. Consumed by hatred, Hercules set out on a path of destruction. But the beautiful slave girl Aegina helped Hercules overcome his grief and set him back on an honorable path.

An entire village was terrorized by a giant Cyclops, prompting a visit from Hercules. It was true that the Cyclops had tossed a traveling toga salesman into a tree and diverted the village's water supply to irrigate Hera's sacred vineyard. But Hercules learned that there were two sides to every conflict. It turned out the villagers had persecuted the cyclops for years. Hercules defeated the Cyclops in battle but spared its life, and the two became allies. Together, they repelled Hera's bloodthirsty henchman, and the Cyclops made peace with the villagers.

Iolaus is struck by lightning, which gives him the power of foresight. When he and Hercules help out Rheanna in her fight against a tyrannical ruler, Melkos, Hercules begins falling for her.