A baby boy is left in a basket outside Asterix's hut - who can have dumped the foundling there, and why? Child-care is something new to the Gaulish warriors, but Asterix and Obelix do their best, although they have had more practice in thumping Romans. Child-care is also new to Crismus Cactus, Prefect of Gaul, who finds himself masquerading as a Gaulish nursemaid. Why are the Romans are after the baby - and just what plot is the treacherous Brutus hatching against Julius Caesar? Even though the Gaulish village burns down, all ends well, with Caesar promising to rebuild it - and there's a great banquet on board Queen Cleopatra's galley.