In first-century Rome, two student friends, Encolpio and Ascilto, argue about ownership of the boy Gitone, divide their belongings, and split up. and split up. Allowed to choose who he goes with, the boy chooses Ascilto. Only a sudden earthquake saves Encolpio from suicide, and from there he has a series of adventures; eventually he reunites with Ascilto and they help a man kidnap a hermaphrodite demi-god from a temple. The god dies, and as punishment Encolpio becomes impotent and they search for a cure. The film is loosely based on the book Satyricon by Gaius Petronius Arbiter, the "Arbiter of Elegance" in the court of Nero. The book has only survived in fragments, and the film reflects this by being very fragmentary itself, even stopping in mid-sentence.