William Cecil, Queen Elizabeth I’s spymaster, intercepts a conspiracy to assassinate the Queen. When he discovers that Elizabeth’s own cousin, Mary Queen of Scots is behind the plot, he lays a trap to capture and execute her.

Elizabeth’s enemies grow in strength, but Robert Cecil, also fights an enemy within. An ambitious aristocrat is trying to take over his network. At stake is control over the aging Queen and the power to choose the next King of England.

England has a new monarch, King James I, and Elizabeth’s former spymaster, Robert Cecil, faces his toughest test. A group of religious extremists’ plan to blow-up the Houses of Parliament with the King inside.