The epic follows a Trojan leader who, forced into exile by war and divine antagonism, leads survivors on a perilous voyage to Italy. Shipwrecks and wanderings bring encounters with foreign peoples, a passionate and ill-fated liaison with a Carthaginian queen, and a descent to the underworld that reveals fate’s scope. Back in Italy, alliances and pitched battles determine the establishment of a new community and a dynastic succession destined to found a future realm. Throughout, gods intervene and themes of duty, piety, fate, and the tension between private desire and public obligation shape events.