Italy 1921

The story begins with a scientist creating a device shaped like a man that can be remote-controlled by a machine.

Teodora, a Roman courtesan and former slave girl, marries the Roman emperor Justinian and assumes the throne as Empress of Rome. But a love affair with a handsome Greek whom she meets in Byzantium leads to revolution and armed conflict in both Byzantium and Rome.

Theatrical adaptation: Frivolous urban playboy Memmo inoculates himself against pressures to marry by setting up a wedding, in name only, with a humble servant girl who will stay out in the countryside.