A pharaonic tragedy to the content that spans six different eras. In the first episode, the emergence and dramatic end of the love story between the pharaoh's daughter Princess Amnertis and her beloved Tirhaka is told until the latter comes to a violent death. From this drama arises a curse, which in the following episodes has had far-reaching effects over the centuries. Everyone who possesses the skull of the long-lost pharaoh's daughter must die violently until the day the skull is sunk in the sea.
The film tells the story of Ivan Mazeppa, a Ukrainian page at the Polish court who has an affair with the young wife of a much older count. Outraged when he learns of the incident, the nobleman has Mazeppa tied naked to a wild horse which is then released into the wilderness. The bulk of the poem describes the long hazardous journey during which Mazeppa almost dies twice but ultimately survives and returns to his native Ukraine.