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 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.