Book One Antiope narrates the events leading to the creation of herself and her sister
Amazons. Fed up with mortal women being
enslaved and subjected to
constant abuse, seven Greek goddesses —
Hestia,
Artemis,
Demeter,
Hecate,
Aphrodite,
Athena, and
Queen Hera— gather on
Mount Olympus to demand that all mortal men be punished for mistreating women, only for their request to be turned down by
Zeus, Hera's womanizing husband and king of the
Olympian gods. Undeterred, the goddesses, except Hera, secretly travel to Tartarus, regrouping at the Well of the Lost, the resting place for the souls of all women murdered by men. Using her powers, each goddess forms a quintet of female warriors — called Amazons — from the dead women's souls. Composed of six tribes each with its own queen and patron goddess, the thirty Amazons travel the ancient world to rescue enslaved women from male traffickers whom they kill in acts of
vigilantism. Hera, who
foresees all women's futures, warns Athena that the Amazons must
not be seen during the day. Meanwhile, a midwife's widowed assistant named
Hippolyta has been ordered to
abandon an unwanted newborn girl due to the infant's father already having three other daughters. After giving the baby a
drachma and sending her down the river, Hippolyta changes her mind, racing against the elements to reclaim the child but is unsuccessful. In the dead of winter, Hippolyta is held hostage by traffickers but rescued by the Amazons who leave her food, clothing, and Antiope's horse before disappearing into the night. Back on Olympus, Hera turns the abandoned baby's soul into a bird to spy on Hippolyta who then rides off in search of the Amazons.
Book Two As the seasons pass, Hippolyta resumes her search for the Amazons, following the trail of murdered traffickers. One night, Hippolyta encounters Artemis; after Hippolyta declares her wish to become an Amazon, Artemis informs her when the female warriors will strike next in exchange for Antiope's horse. Following Artemis' instructions, Hippolyta reunites with the Amazons and tells them her wish; after some deliberation, the queens of the six tribes agree and Hippolyta becomes the seventh Amazon queen, her own tribe worshipping all six creator goddesses and made up of the women the Amazons rescue and bring back to their secret hideout to become honorary sisters. To keep their existence a secret from the male gods, especially Zeus, the Amazons hide during the day and only go on their missions at night when Artemis can watch over them. But as just Hera had warned, however, a young Amazon named Tarpeia enters
Apollo's temple during the day and kills a murdered trafficker's son while he is praying to the sun god. Now aware of the Amazons' existence, the gods send an all-male army to annihilate the warrior women as Hera commands her spy to warn the goddesses.
Book Three With the Amazons' existence no longer a secret, Demeter calls out Hera for not bothering to help the female warriors, whose creation was the Olympian Queen's own idea. Back on Earth, the Amazons battle against the gods and their male soldiers. The Amazons even slay Zeus' son
Heracles, who had tried to fight them in one of his infamous labors, prompting his father to angrily lash out at Hera. Hippolyta merges all seven Amazon tribes into one group and leads as their
sole Queen. Despite their bravery and skills, however, the Amazons are no match for their male enemies and suffer many losses. When Artemis sends down Antiope's horse, Hippolyta rides it to Olympus where she strikes a deal with Zeus: the Amazons' lives in exchange for their freedom. Except for Tarpeia, all the Amazons, dead and living, are given long lives yet are forever imprisoned on
Themyscira, an island where are they allowed to do as they please while under the sun god's watch; once a month, Artemis is allowed temporary guardianship of the warriors she had helped create. Grieving over depriving her sisters their freedom, Hippolyta solemnly carves a baby girl from the clay sand on the island's beach before walking off into the sea with the intent of committing suicide. Hera, Artemis, and the other five goddesses soon arrive and bring the clay structure to life using the soul of the very child the Hippolyta was ordered to abandon. Submerged under the sea, Hippolyta hears the newborn baby's cries. Rushing back to take care of the child, Hippolyta soon realizes it's the baby girl who she originally raced to rescue. She contemplates what to name this child as the name "Diana" is shown carved on the beach sand behind her. The goddesses meanwhile looking proudly upon their champion and her new daughter. == Publication ==