In ancient Palestine, an Assyrian army is attacking a community of Jewish people (Israelites).

The Jews see their own doom coming, and they believe that they can be saved only if the fairest and purest one of their women is sent to Holofernes to plead to spare them.

However, a captain in the Israelite army named John wants to marry her, so he sends a prostitute, who will pretend to be Judith, to Holofernes.

Holofernes finally arrives, but Judith is not able to make her plea to spare her fellow Israelites.

[1] Judith was first performed on 4 November 1931[2] in Paris at the Théâtre Pigalle in a production by Louis Jouvet.