When the marriage between AMOS and MARY MAGDALENE turns out to be childless, he casts her out and gets a divorce. Mary has to leave Magdala. She befriends SILVANO, a Roman prefect, who promises her a new life at his side. A few days after her departure Mary meets the prophet JOHN THE BAPTIST, whom Silvano suspects of being a revolutionary. The prefect tells her to cultivate John more intensively. In this way Mary becomes acquainted with the teaching of the coming Messiah, and it begins to interest her.