Scandal at the court of James I. Katharine Leslie, young, ambitious, and scornful of her role as scholar's wife, is drawn irresistibly to the glamour of the Stuart court. Alan Carr, brother of the king's favourite, has long desired her - and makes no secret of his intention to possess her. Frances Howard, beautiful and sinister Countess of Essex, uses Katharine's weakness to further her romantic intrigue - a plot which results in one of the most treacherous murders of history.