Shiri, a highly educated beautiful young lady, is a slave of the Roman conquerors, working on the roads, when she is summoned to her owner's villa to take part in a sadistic competition. She is bound to a cross, alongside another slave, facing two experienced whip-masters. The contest is who can take the most strokes without screaming, with the loser facing a very uncertain and certainly agonising future! Shiri's life is not a pleasant one at the best of times - the excruciating pain she is put through makes her wish she was back on the roads, working under the overseers' lash!