I first came across The Aeneid in high school Latin. We spent an entire year translating a couple of the Books of that epic, which was a task I actually enjoyed. As a result, I went on to read The Aeneid in its entirety on my own a few years later.
The story is about the founding of Rome and follows the adventures of Aeneas as he escapes from Troy after the city was sacked by the Greeks and makes his way to a new land. The journey is arduous — mostly because he has incurred the wrath of Juno — but he eventually makes it.
Critics of this book claim that it is little more than a second-rate ripoff of both The Odyssey (the first six books dealing with Aeneas’s travels) and The Iliad (the last six books leading up to the final showdown with Turnus). I don’t really get into those scholarly debates though; I just know that I enjoyed The Aeneid more than The Odyssey, but slightly less than The Iliad.
By the way, the translation does matter. I recommend Robert Fitzgerald’s version — you won’t be disappointed!