A commanding retelling of the hero’s later years: after a lifetime of adventure he returns to Athens to rule, marries Phaedra, and struggles to balance love, friendship and the burdens of power while trying to raise his sons; a tangled web of passion, jealousy and miscommunication erupts when Phaedra’s forbidden desire for his son leads to a false accusation and a divine vengeance — a sea-swept catastrophe that kills the young man and drives Phaedra to suicide, leaving the ruler shattered by grief and the sense of a life undone.