With his brief marriage to Anne of Cleves annulled, King Henry VIII immerses himself in a new relationship, this time with the teenager Katherine Howard.

While Katherine's arrival is marred by the loathing of Henry's daughter, Lady Mary, and dogged by the shadows of her own amorous past, England's king faces a bloody religious reformation, an uneasy relationship with Scotland, and intrigue within the royal court fueled by those with designs on the throne.

As Katherine's infidelity and failure to produce a son sentences her to an all-too-familiar fate, the King marries Catherine Parr as England enters an ill-advised war with France that takes its toll on both Henry's fragile health and his army's strength. And as the showdown between Catholics and Protestants exposes religious fault lines across Europe, Henry's egomaniacal madness reaches new heights as his kingdom threatens to implode.