342 BC: Aristotle is reluctant to set aside his own ambitions in order to tutor Alexander, the rebellious son of his boyhood friend Philip of Macedon. But the philosopher soon comes to realize that teaching this charming, surprising, sometimes horrifying teenager - heir to the Macedonian throne, forced onto the battlefield before his time - is a necessity amid the ever more sinister intrigues of Philip's court. Ancient Greece comes to vivid life via the story of these two towering figures, innovator and conqueror, whose views of the world still resonate.