The powerful Duke of Norfolk, the leading Catholic aristocrat in England, dangles his teenaged niece Catherine Howard before the aging but still amorous King Henry, who foolishly marries her.

Corpulent and old, Henry makes a final trip to the altar, with the puritan Lady Latimer, Catherine Parr. The new queen brings Henry’s estranged daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, back into the family fold, but irritates the king by debating religion with him and his advisors.