The movie takes place roughly a decade after the events of the first film. Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), still reeling from his defeat at Thermopylae, sets out to conquer the rest of Greece, while the Spartans, led by King Leonidas' brother, Eurybiades (Sullivan Stapleton), prepare for war. Meanwhile, Themistocles (Sutherland), an Athenian general, emerges as a key player in the battle against the Persians.