Asso (Ace), the best poker-player in town, was killed in his wedding night, because he won too much against a bad loser. In the "final" game in heaven the clerk on duty also lost, so Asso can come back to this world as a ghost to search for a good man for his wife (widow). Who is good enough for the wife of Asso?

A Roman noble, Cethegus, tries to start a war, setting the Ostrogoths and their Queen, Amalasuntha, against the Byzantine Emperor Justinian; Cethegus wants to swoop in after they have destroyed each other and create a new Roman Empire from their combined kingdoms; however, he does not factor into his plans the vagaries of love and the personal integrity of the people in both kingdoms.