Based on a play by Agha Hashar Kashmiri, this Bimal Roy film delves deep into the past to tell a story involving the prosecution of the Jews during the reign of the Roman Empire. Ezra (Sohrab Modi) is a Jewish jeweler and while away on business, his butler accidentally drops a rock on the Governor of Rome from a balcony. Greatly insulted, Brutus (Nazir Hussain) sentences Ezra’s servant to death. Despite Ezra’s pleas for mercy the execution commences, leaving the Jewish community at odds with Brutus. A fellow Jew kidnaps Brutus’s daughter and brings her to Ezra expecting that she will be killed as an act of revenge. Rather than see more loss of life, Ezra adopts the girl and raises her as his own, renaming her Hannah (Meena Kumari). With no knowledge for her heritage, Hannah lives a normal life until she meets Prince Marcus (Dilip Kumar), son of the Emperor, when he has a riding accident while hunting. Despite his impending marriage to Brutus’s niece, Marcus becomes enamored with Hannah and later disguises himself as a Jew so that he can get to know her. When Hannah learns his true identity, she is heartbroken and on the day of Marcus’s wedding announces that she has been cheated by a Roman. She declares Marcus the guilty party and he is sentenced to death. What follows are several acts of love that may prevent one death, but lead to another.
