Part 1 of 3. Villager Hemnor recruits Hercules to save the last golden hind from Prince Nestor. When a young boy is critically injured in one of Nestor's traps, Serena appears and heals him, then disappears. Iolaus, meanwhile, is shot by the hind. Hercules hunts Serena to save Iolaus before it's too late. Ares traps Serena in a thorny hedge, from which Hercules frees her -- but the thorns have caught her blood.

Hercules asks Serena to marry him. But Ares is still manipulating the situation and, determined to destroy the pair's relationship, makes Hercules a deal - Serena's hand in return for Hercules giving up his godly powers.

Hercules found it increasingly difficult to adjust to life without his superhuman strength. Meanwhile Ares and his nephew, Strife, plotted Hercules demise which didn't help matters. Then Hercules awoke one morning to find his wife lying dead beside him, murdered. He appeared to be the murderer, but in his darkest hour, his friends Iolaus, Xena and Gabrielle came to his aid, defending him against a lynch mob and exposing Strife as Serena's killer. Zeus gave back to his son the gift of incredible strength, and Hercules defeated Strife before the evil young god escaped with Ares.

Iolaus 2 was shocked to learn that Nautica, his mermaid love, had been given legs and was about to marry Lysaka. Hercules went to see Triton to get to the heart of the matter, and found his former wife, Serena. They discovered Lysaka had stolen triton's trident, the source of his power, and Nautica was marrying Lysaka to get it back. Hercules got the Cabiri to fashion a new trident, then left Serena to return to Iolaus. When Aphrodite offered to make Iolaus a merman so he could be with Nautica, he agreed and said good-bye to Hercules once more.

Sin came looking for Hercules in the guise of Serena. She said she needed Hercules' help to recapture Xerxos, a murderer who had escaped from her world of evil souls. In truth ""Serena"" was in league with Xerxos. She poisoned Hercules in hopes he would take a life in anger, which would condemn his soul to her domain. But Iolaus was able to keep Hercules from killing Xerxos. The murderer found his sister, the criminal Arciana, and encouraged her to reform before it was too late. Then he and ""Serena"" returned to their realm.