Iolaus was delighted to meet Aphrodite, who offered him a special golden apple. The apple would make any woman Iolaus wanted fall hopelessly in love with him. The spell worked perfectly on Thera, but there was one problem: She was already betrothed to Epius. Their union would bring peace to the cities of Syros and Delos. Aphrodite didn't want peace; she wanted to control both cities and turn their gold into shrines. Hercules managed to prevent a Syros-Delos war by thrusting the apple into the joint grasp of both royals, uniting them as soul mates for life.

Hephaestus, the god of fire, secretly pined for Aphrodite. His devious assistant. Iagos, hatched a plan to give Hephaestus a substitute for Aphrodite in return for a powerful bronze shield. Iagos went to retrieve Leandra, a beautiful mortal who rejected Hephaestus 50 years earlier, prompting the god of fire to place her in suspended animation. Aphrodite, who had recently decided to give up matchmaking, went with Iolaus to Leandra's rescue. Iolaus destroyed Iagos and revealed he was Leandra's grandson. Meanwhile, sparks flew between Hephaestus and Aphrodite, who resumed her duties as goddess of love.

Aphrodite was consumed by jealousy at the notion that Psyche, a mortal, was as beautiful as she. But her son, Cupid, was in love with Psyche. When Hercules was accidentally shot by Cupid's bow, making him fall in love with the girl, Cupid's jealousy transformed him into a green eyed monster. The change was not permanent, and Psyche began to return Cupid's affections. Finally Aphrodite allowed Psyche to keep her beauty on the condition that she live with Cupid on Mount Olympus. For Hercules, the spell was broken when his thoughts turned to his late wife, the only woman he ever truly loved.

King Augeus has gone mad and believes himself to be Zeus. Naturally, Hera uses the situation to her own means – he can have real godly powers if he can kill Hercules.

A lightning bolt from the dying Zeus opened a vortex to a parallel universe, where Iolaus was a jester and Hercules was the malevolent Sovereign. This alternate Hercules and the alternate Xena were lovers, and they were attempting to kill Zeus with Hind blood. Ares, meanwhile, was the god of love, not war, and Aphrodite was a modest, sensitive goddess. When the vortex reappeared, Hercules, Iolaus, the Sovereign and the alternate Iolaus all wound up inside and fought a furious battle. Each managed to return to his proper universe except the Sovereign, who was trapped inside the vortex.

Nautica, a mermaid, wanted to see the world. But her father, Triton, had arranged a marriage for her. Nautica found a way out when Discord gave her legs. When she met Iolaus 2, they both fell immediately in love. Unfortunately, if Nautica did not return to the sea by sunset, the waters of Greece would turn to ice. When Brutus took her hostage, Iolaus found the strength in his love and handily defeated Nautica's captor. The lovers returned to the beach and after one last kiss, the mermaid swam out to sea.

Iolaus 2 was shocked to learn that Nautica, his mermaid love, had been given legs and was about to marry Lysaka. Hercules went to see Triton to get to the heart of the matter, and found his former wife, Serena. They discovered Lysaka had stolen triton's trident, the source of his power, and Nautica was marrying Lysaka to get it back. Hercules got the Cabiri to fashion a new trident, then left Serena to return to Iolaus. When Aphrodite offered to make Iolaus a merman so he could be with Nautica, he agreed and said good-bye to Hercules once more.

When Hercules saw the Amazons waiting tables and dancing in a chorus line, he knew they had to be under a spell cast by Aphrodite. Sure enough, the goddess of love was responsible. She had broken up with Hephaestus, which threw her powers out of whack. Meanwhile, Deimos put the Amazons to work in a mine, digging for the Chronus Stone. Finding it, he turned the Amazons against Hercules and Iolaus. But Aphrodite finally confessed her love for Hephaestus, breaking the spell. Deimos vanished, and the Amazons returned to normal.