Injured by a Jewish child named Elijah, Brutus has his soldiers arrest him, and ignoring the father, Ezra's pleas, he has Elijah thrown to the lions. Ezra's servant, Emmanuel, breaks into Brutus' mansion and abducts his daughter, Lydia, and takes her to Ezra, so that he could kill her. But a grieving Ezra decides to adopt her and re-names her Hannah. Years later the father and daughter are financially well off but people continue to be oppressed by the Romans. Hannah comes to the assistance of Julius Caesar's heir, Marcus, due to an accident with his chariot, and he is smitten by her despite of his forthcoming marriage to Octavia. Unable to get her out of his mind, he dons a Jewish guise, calls himself Moshe, and dramatically befriends her and Ezra. He turns all his affections on Hannah much to Octavia's displeasure. Caesar wants him to wed but Marcus refuses, and an enraged Caesar gives him time to reconsider.

The familiar story features the rivalry between the Roman priest Brutus and the oppressed Jewish merchant, Prince Ezra. Brutus sentences Ezra's son to death and Ezra in turn kidnaps and raises Brutus' only daughter, Decia. When the daughter, renamed Hannah, grows up, the Roman Prince Marcus falls in love with her. To court her, he disguises his Roman identity. When his religion is discovered, he is ejected from Ezra's house. Marcus then agrees to marry Princess Octavia as arranged, but Hannah denounces him in open court and he is sentenced to death by his own father, the emperor.