Judah Ben-Hur is a young Jewish nobleman from a prominent who is reunited with his childhood friend Messala. Messala returns to Judea as a Roman tribune. There is a genuine friendship between the two men, yet the clash of their cultures drives a wedge between them. That wedge finally drives Messala to banish Judah to the slave galleys and sends his mother and his sister to prison. From that point forward, Judah's life becomes a quest: a quest to survive...

This is the inspiring story of the robe that Jesus wore on the cross and the Roman centurion, Marcellus Gallio, who wins the robe in a gambling match at the foot of the cross.