The Pharaoh Rameses, worried about the prosperity of the Jewish population in his kingdom, sends all his male children to death, but a woman from the tribe of Levi hides a child in a basket to entrust him to the river currents.

Moses is called by the Lord to deliver the Israelite nation from the power of the Pharaoh. Burt Lancaster, Anthony Quayle.

When the Pharaoh refuses to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt, Moses threatens the Egyptians with plagues and the death of every first-born male child.

Fleeing the Egyptian army sent to recapture them, the Israelites cross the Red Sea and face thirst, hunger, dissension and brutal nomads in the desert.

The Israelites lose their faith in Moses and question the beliefs they have lived by, constructing a false idol while Moses is on Mount Horeb receiving the Ten Commandments.

His work done, Moses warns the Israelites that they will wander in the desert for 40 years before they reach the Promised Land.