Androcles is a Christian who follows that religions teachings even as they apply to the treatment of animals. Seeing a lion in pain, he removes a huge thorn from the beasts paw, creating a friend for life. Androcles and a number of other Christians are evenutally arrested and condemned to death in the arena. They are to die being eaten lions. Is it too much to hope that one of the lions may have a paw that has healed recently and might remember who helped heal it