Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages

Four parallel stories of intolerance through the ages - most specifically ancient Babylon, the era of Christ's uprising, the French Renaissance during the reign of Charles IX and his mother Catherine de Medici, and present day - are presented. That intolerance is solely because of social groupings as opposed to the people as individuals. Each story tells of the group in power who use that power to quash a popular uprising - usually with violence - and the affect that it has on a young couple who just want to live largely in peace. The movie moves from story to story, cutting from one to another during moments similar to the two stories. But overriding the entire proceeding is the Eternal Mother, who is seen rocking the cradle of the human race.