When the bard is taken to Rome as a present for Caesar, Asterix and Obelix set out to rescue him, sailing with a Phoenician merchant. But how do our Gaulish friends come to end up training as gladiators?

To celebrate the birthdays of Asterix and Obelix, the village develops an elaborate celebration with games, plays, and artworks of the two warriors, and invite their enemies, the Romans, as a sign of good faith.

A woman bard? That's unheard of in Ancient Gaul. So, when the mothers in Asterix's town want to replace Cacofonix with Bravura, the men are horrified. But, Bravura hits the right notes musically, and she proves very valuable when Julius Caesar sends in his secret weapon: a group of female legionnaries. Caesar thinks the Gauls will be too noble to fight the women...but Bravura has no such scruples! And, even Cacofonix succeeds in coming into his own....

The Gauls have only one fear: that the sky may fall on their heads tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes, says the chief or does it? It looks as if it's come at last for Asterix, Obelix and the other villagers.