Aphrodite, the goddess of love, makes Phaedra, wife of Theseus, the king of Athens, fall in love with her stepson Hippolytus. When Hippolytus rejects her love she accuses him of rape before she kills herself. Her accusation provokes Theseus into pronouncing a curse on his son that eventually leads to Hippolytus' death. But Artemis reveals Hippolytus' innocence before he dies, and the young man is able to forgive his father.