After Hercules and his friend Iolaus stopped a band of hoodlums from robbing an innkeeper, Hercules went home to his family. The horror that followed was over almost before it started. A huge ball of fire burst through his bedroom window and consumed his wife, Deianeira. In the next instant the fireball took Hercules' three young children. His step mother, Hera, was to blame. Consumed by hatred, Hercules set out on a path of destruction. But the beautiful slave girl Aegina helped Hercules overcome his grief and set him back on an honorable path.

An entire village was terrorized by a giant Cyclops, prompting a visit from Hercules. It was true that the Cyclops had tossed a traveling toga salesman into a tree and diverted the village's water supply to irrigate Hera's sacred vineyard. But Hercules learned that there were two sides to every conflict. It turned out the villagers had persecuted the cyclops for years. Hercules defeated the Cyclops in battle but spared its life, and the two became allies. Together, they repelled Hera's bloodthirsty henchman, and the Cyclops made peace with the villagers.

A group of refugees in search of a safe haven came upon the ghost town of Parthus, where the groups leader, Broteas, stole a golden chalice from Hera's temple. The theft brought down the wrath of Hera, and only Hercules could protect the refugees. The seer traveling with him explained that the cursed chalice had been a gift from Zeus to a young maiden of Parthus. Hercules saved the refugees from a violent rock storm, evil bounty hunters and a giant pterodactyl. He flung the chalice toward the horizon and saw the group safely to Calydon.

A power struggle threatened to send the peaceful kingdom of Meliad into war. Fearing the worst Queen Camilla summoned Hercules to the annual Festival of Dionysus. If Dionysus, the god of wine, did not find King Iphicles worthy to rule another year, ten lovely virgins would become drunk and slaughter the King in a terrible frenzy. Iphicles was a good king, but he was still in danger. Pentheus, the king's elder son, plotted with Ares, the god of war, to overthrow his father. Hercules battled a deadly eel and then overcame Pentheus, saving the king.

Ares thrived on conflict and bloodshed. Hercules did not share Ares' passion for killing, and when Ares tried to assemble an army of teenage boy-soldiers to do his bidding, Hercules knew he had to stop him. With help from the powerful blacksmith Atalanta and the young widow Janista, Hercules freed Janista's son Titus and his friend Ximenos from Ares' spell. Then he confronted a representation of Ares in his cave, and after a fierce battle, Hercules beheaded his bloodthirsty foe. Titus learned that the way of the true warrior is not to kill, but to destroy forces of evil.

In the town of Nespa, the winsome penelope was about to marry Marcus - much to the dismay of Nemis the Centaur. Nemis prayed to Hera for a way to win Penelope for himself, and she gave him a wicked cudgel. Hera's challenge to Nemis: kill Hercules. Nemis enlisted the aid of the centaurs Craesus and Deric, plus Deric's girlfriend, Lyla, who cunningly blinded Hercules. Nemis kidnapped Penelope, but Hercules used his sense of sound and touch as well as his wits, to even the odds in his fight against Nemis. Hercules prevailed, and Penelope was returned to Marcus.

Pride and arrogance are ugly traits ill befitting an honorable warrior. Yet Iolaus succumbed to pride as the two men made their way to Thrace. First Iolaus fought a taunting bunch of thugs and had to be rescued by Hercules. Then he took his own path toward Thrace, determined to beat his friend to the city. On the way he met Lydia and escaped several dangers, but Hera sent Nemesis to kill Iolaus for the sin of pride. Only when Iolaus committed a selfless act of friendship toward Hercules did he earn his own reprieve.

When Hercules returned to his childhood home to visit his mother, he encountered Oi-Lan on the trading block. The young woman had been taken prisoner by Belus, a notorious slave trader. Disgusted by the spectacle, Hercules bought Oi-Lan and set her free. Then Hercules and Oi-Lan joined forces to free her finace, Cyrus, who was being taken to Libya to be sacrificed to the lions. Belus was beaten in a pitched battle, and Oi-Lan and Cyrus were married at Hercules' mother's home. hercules then invited them to settle on the land he once shared with his family.

The beautiful warrior woman Xena was intent on securing complete control of the region of Arcadia. To accomplish her goal, Xena decided that Hercules must die. She posed as a maiden in distress and effectively lured Iolaus away from his best friend. Xena then used all her beauty and charm on Iolaus, even preying on his loneliness. Hercules discovered Xena's true identity and went to rescue Iolaus. At first, Iolaus turned on Hercules rather than join him. But eventually Iolaus realized the truth. He and hercules fought Xena and her army until Iolaus was injured. Xena departed, vowing a vengeful return.

Menas Maxius, the wealthiest man in Apropus, enslaved innocent men and forced them to fight wild animals for the amusement of his friends and his wife, the evil Postera. One of those imprisoned was Gladius. His wife, Felicita, explained the situation to Hercules and Iolaus, who got themselves thrown into prison so they could free Gladius. Menas forced Hercules and Gladius to fight each other by threatening the lives of both iolaus and Felicita. But the two men turned on their captors and fought their way to freedom, denying Menas and Postera their sadistic pleasure.

A mystery drew Hercules and Iolaus to the city of Tantalus. There, the bodies of fallen warriors were disappearing from the battlefields. Hercules learned that Ares, the god of war, was to blame. After King Memnos' death, his son Daulin had assumed the throne, Daulin's sister Poena, had taken up arms against him. She believed Daulin had killed their father. Ares had created the entire situation merely to satisfy the appetite of his bloodthirsty hound, Graegus. After leashing the vicious beast, Hercules explained the truth to Daulin and poena, bringing an end to the family war.

Hercules was angry to learn that the warrior princes Xena was raiding villages to increase her power and territory. What Hercules didn't know until later was that Xena's lieutenant, Darphus, was the cruel and heartless one. When Xena spared the life of an infant, Darphus forced her to endure the Gauntlet, a series of trials in which she was punished by her own soldiers. Fleeing on her own, Xena challenged Hercules to a duel - and lost. But he spared her life, so she joined him in defending the village of Parthis from her former lieutenant.

Hercules and Xena thought Darphus had been killed in the battle over Parthis. But Ares resurrected Darphus, who headed off to cause more mayhem with his army. Darphus fed his victims to Graegus, Ares' man-eating dog, and the creaure grew more powerful with every meal. Working together, Hercules and Xena outwitted the evil Darphus and destroyed Graegus. They also fell in love. Although the passion they felt for each other was strong, Xena was compelled to make amends around the land for her past wrongdoings. She thanked Hercules for unchaining her heart and departed.