Queen Mary burns Protestant heretics in London. At court, the Duke of Norfolk is informed that she is with child and that the rebellion against her rule has been put down. The rebels had plotted to put her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth on the throne, so Elizabeth is taken to the Tower of London for interrogation. Mary is convinced of her guilt but, despite the fiercely pro-Catholic NorfolkÕs urgings, refuses to sign her death warrant.
When Mary dies, Elizabeth is crowned Queen. Her advisor, Cecil, tells her that the kingdom is in a poor state financially and militarily and urges her to secure an alliance with another country through royal marriage. At a ball, she is pursued by the ambassadors of France and Spain to this end, but shocks everyone present by dancing sensuously with her childhood friend Dudley. That night we see Elizabeth and Dudley make love.
The Queen is informed that Mary of Guise has increased the French garrison in Scotland. Seeing this as an act of war, ElizabethÕs counsel advise her to raise an army to invade. She gives the order, but the army Ð young and inexperienced - is soundly defeated. Elizabeth learns that a better fighting force could not be assembled because the priesthood had preached against the invasion.
The Queen attempts to resolve the nationÕs religious divisions by founding a unified Church of England. She gets the measure through Parliament by a combination of persuasion and underhand methods. In Rome, the Pope issues a bull instructing English Catholics to assassinate her.
At a party on the Thames, Elizabeth flirts outrageously with Dudley as the French and Spanish ambassadors
try to persuade her into a royal marriage. The evening is brought to an abrupt end by an attempt on her life. Meanwhile, a monk, John Ballard, is sent to England by the Pope to plot her murder.
We see Dudley making love to one of the courtiers, Isabel Knollys. She is wearing one of the QueenÕs dresses. Suddenly she goes into paroxysms: the dress is poisoned. In Scotland, one of ElizabethÕs most loyal advisors, Walsingham, appears to conspire with Mary of Guise. In the morning, she is found dead.
Walsingham captures Ballard and tortures him for details of the Catholic plot. He finds a document listing the conspirators. They include some of her most senior advisors Ð and her lover Dudley. Elizabeth orders they be executed swiftly and quietly. She pardons Dudley, believing it is greater punishment to let him live. Her rule finally secure, she reinvents herself as a saintly virgin, a religious icon to unite the nation behind.