Warned by Vidura, the Pandavas escape Duryodhana's burning palace through a tunnel in the floor and vanish into the forests of central India. Disguised as Brahmins, they kill the man-eating rakshasas Hidimba and Baka, defeat the proud Gandharva Chitraratha, and walk at last into the wedding hall of Drupada's daughter Draupadi.

Granted the wild lands of Khandava, the Pandavas raise the golden city of Indraprastha. Krishna arrives to help. Jarasandha of Magadha, the last great obstacle to imperial power, falls in a wrestling match with Bhima. The four younger Pandavas conquer the directions of the world. At the Rajasuya sacrifice that consecrates Yudhishthira as emperor, Shishupala's hundred pardoned offenses come due.

Stripped of their kingdom by the dice game, the Pandavas wander the forests of the Bharatavarsha for twelve years. They kill demons, visit shrines, witness sages and gods, and Arjuna travels to Indra's heaven to gather the weapons that will one day decide the war.

In the forests of exile, the dishonored queen of the Pandavas faces a different kind of war from her husbands'. Remembering the sari that did not run out, she keeps the camp fed from the sun's inexhaustible vessel, calls Krishna to save them from Durvasa's ten thousand disciples with a single grain of rice, and is seized by Jayadratha and rescued by her husbands.

Years after the war, Krishna's clan destroys itself in a brawl, Krishna leaves his body to a hunter's stray arrow, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari walk into a forest fire, and the Pandavas - having handed the throne to Arjuna's grandson Parikshit - walk north into the Himalayas to die on the path to heaven. Only Yudhishthira, refusing to abandon a stray dog, completes the climb.

Fifteen years after the war, the blind king Dhritarashtra still grieves his hundred dead sons while living under the care of the very nephews who killed them. When Bhima's boasting cuts him one time too many, the old king asks leave to retire to the forest. With Gandhari, Kunti, the wise Vidura, and the charioteer Sanjaya, he takes up the ascetic's life by the Ganga. There Vidura merges his life-breath into Yudhishthira, the sage Vyasa raises every fallen warrior from the river for a single night, Kunti pours out to Vyasa the old grief of Karna's birth, and the old generation passes into a forest fire while the Pandavas rule on.

Thirty-six years after the war, Gandhari's curse comes due. A foolish prank against visiting sages dooms the entire Yadava race: cursed to die by an iron mace, the clan grinds it to powder and casts it into the sea, but the doom is not undone. At Prabhasa, drunk and quarrelling at a festival, the Yadavas tear up the grass and slaughter one another. Balarama departs by yoga, Krishna is felled by a hunter's arrow in the sole of his foot, and the golden city of Dwaraka sinks beneath the sea. When Arjuna comes to lead the survivors away, even his unconquerable bow fails in his hands.

With Krishna gone and their work in the world finished, the Pandavas crown Abhimanyu's son Parikshit and walk out of Hastinapura forever. Arjuna casts his great bow Gandiva back into the sea, and the five brothers and Draupadi set out northward toward the Himalayas and the slopes of Mount Meru, seeking heaven in their living bodies. A stray dog attaches itself to Yudhishthira. One by one, each of his companions falls dead on the freezing path, each for a single hidden flaw - until only Yudhishthira and the faithful dog remain to face the chariot of the gods.

Yudhishthira enters heaven in his living body, only to find his enemy Duryodhana enthroned in glory and none of his own family in sight. Demanding to be taken to his brothers, he is led instead through a foul and terrifying hell, where he hears the voices of Karna, Draupadi, and his brothers crying out in torment. He refuses to leave them - and in that choice the illusion shatters. It was the final test. The hell dissolves, the gods reveal the truth, and Yudhishthira bathes in the celestial Ganga, sheds his mortal body, and is reunited with all his kin in the peace of heaven. So the great history closes.

With both armies camped on the plain, the world tries one last time to prevent the war. Krishna travels to Hastinapura as a peace envoy and is refused; the kings of the earth choose their sides; commanders are named and the rules of war sworn; Yudhishthira walks unarmed to seek his elders' blessing; and Hanuman, keeping the promise he once made to his brother Bhima, takes his place on Arjuna's flag.