After doing military service in the Middle East, British archaeologist Holly, his valet and his handsome young friend Leo are spotted in Palestine and approached by a mysterious oriental who identified Leo by his uncanny likeness to the portrait on an ancient coin. An adventurous search for the lost Pharaonic city of Kuma proceeds relying on a recently-acquired map. Their hasty mini-expedition reaches a hidden city where the Hellenistic age is still alive. It is ruled by the supernatural Ayesha, 'She who must be obeyed', who believes Leo is is the reincarnation she waited for all those centuries of Callicrates, a companion of Alexander the Great. She offers him immortality and to share the throne as her eternal love, but it goes tragically wrong...