Upon the death of King Edward VI, the thirty-eight-year-old princess
Mary--daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon--wrests the throne
from Edward's deemed heir. But Mary's mother appears from the vaults of
memory, and adamantly questions the motives of Mary's cousin Jane and
her half-sister Bess, despite Mary's affection for them both. As the
kingdom splits along Roman Catholic and Protestant lines, Mary walks a
gauntlet of squabbling ethics and politics, and is forced to make some
tough decisions. Should she execute her opponents before it's too late,
the way her father did? Should she scramble to find a husband who can
give her a rightful heir? And can she trust her mother, her sister, or
even herself?