1445. King Henry VI is married by proxy to Margaret of Anjou. French, beautiful and unpopular, her marriage causes a national uproar.

At the same time, the infant Margaret Beaufort is made a great heiress and suddenly becomes the most important commodity in the nation. Her childhood is lived in remote, echoing castles, while everyone at King Henry's court competes to be her guardian and engineer an advantageous alliance with her uncle, the Duke of Somerset.

With the collapse of Henry VI's hold on France, discord among the English nobles breaks out into civil war. Henry becomes...