Four hundred years after the founding of the Republic, Rome is the wealthiest city in the world, a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people and epicenter of a sprawling empire. The Republic was founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition, never allowing one man to seize absolute control. But now, those foundations are crumbling, eaten away by corruption and excess, and the old values of Spartan discipline and social unity have given way to a great chasm between the classes. As Caesar prepares to return, confident of his popularity with the masses, the aristocracy conspires against him.

Two soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, weary after eight years of war, unwittingly become entwined in the historical events of ancient Rome. As they try to readjust to civilian life, they remain privy to the actions and strategies of highest order of authority, from the death of Julius Caesar to the rise of Augustus.

A serialized drama of love and betrayal, masters and slaves, husbands and wives, Rome chronicles a turbulent era that saw the death of the republic and the birth of an empire.