It was Lettice who married the Earl of Leicester, whom Elizabeth I loved. It was Lettice who was the mother of the Queen's beloved Earl of Essex. It was always Lettice, the constant spoiler in the triangle of love surrounding Elizabeth.

A woman initiates passionate sexual encounters with two articulate but bumbling and crass middle-aged men, but what she demands in return soon becomes untenable. A short time later she goes missing, prompting the county sheriff to open a murder investigation.

Henrietta Maria's father was murdered and she has grown up in a court of intrigue, constantly on the verge of conflict, until the arrival of the future King of England. Henrietta becomes betrothed to him and embarks on a stormy marriage, which grows into a passionate and steadfast union. Blindly they blunder through the years, watching the rise of men such as Cromwell, Hampden and Pym, unaware of the spies in their own household. There follows the inevitable march to war - the sequel of which is played out on a cold January day in Whitehall.