King Henry VIII, the young and ambitious monarch of England, prepares for war with France but is dissuaded by the diplomatic manipulation of his powerful Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, who proposes that the King sponsor a "Treaty of Universal Peace." The harmony of the King's domestic affairs is threatened, however, when he discovers that Elizabeth Blount, the young and beautiful lady-in-waiting to his Queen, Katherine of Aragon, is pregnant with his child.

Henry and his court look to sign the treaty with France, though tempers of both kings flare up at the summit. Meanwhile, Henry takes on a new mistress named Mary Boleyn, though he soon tires of her and Mary's sister, Anne, is summoned to the court.

The King asks Charles to escort his sister, Margaret, to her betrothed and promotes him to Duke of Suffolk. The envoys from the Holy Roman-Emperor meet with Cardinal Wolsey and determine how to cement the treaty between the two nations. Anne catches the King's notice in a play. The Emperor is invited to the King's court. It is learned that the King of France knows of the treaty talks- and the Cardinal is quick to find a scapegoat. We learn more of why Anne's father and uncle want her to seduce the King.

As a reward for his denunciation of Martin Luther, the Pope christens Henry "Defender of the Faith," but a brush with death causes the king to seek a solution to his lack of an heir. Princess Margaret marries the decrepit King of Portugal reluctantly, but the union is short-lived; Henry's desire for Anne Boleyn intensifies.

Henry is displeased to learn that the Emperor Charles V, Queen Katherine's nephew, has released King Francis of France from prison and is forced to look for a foreign ally elsewhere. Meanwhile Katherine's alliance with Charles intensifies as does her hatred of Wolsey. Anne Boleyn turns down the king's proposal that she be the royal mistress, demanding nothing less than being declared queen.

Henry is still besotted with Anne Boleyn, queen Catherine asks a diplomat to appeal to her Habsburg relatives. Now the emperor has captured the pope in Italy, cardinal Woolsey promises the king to get a mandate from the cardinals to handle Henry's divorce demand and personally goes to Paris in triumph, to sign a treaty with the French king Francis I. Ann's father Thomas Boleyn tells the incredulous king about the cardinal's stealing confiscated monastical goods. After utterly abject humiliation at Henry's feet, Charles Brandon is allowed to win his return to court by arm-wrestling. When the pope escapes to Orvieto, Thomas Cromwell pleases the king by proposing Ann's former tutor as messenger to present his divorce requests; Woolsey has him intercepted, reads the draft documents and lets him go, sneering the mission is hopeless; the king is furious when it fails indeed.

Sir William Compton is diagnosed on his Warwickshire estate with highly contagious 'sweating sickness', the physician bleeds his back- death comes swift, his body is burned before burial, Thomas Tallis breaks his lute on the fresh grave, then courts Joan Larke. The Cardinal flatters Ann and announces the alliance with France against the emperor is a fact, while he sends lawyers Stephen Gardiner and Foxe to pope Clement VII in Orvieto, requesting an annulment of the royal marriage to Catherine, if necessary by threats, while the emperor demands confirmation. The duke of Norfolk is removed from court. Just after the arrival of the new French ambassador, who promises French troops will drive the emperor out of Italy soon, the epidemic and utter panic reach London, even the royal court, where Henry tries every remedy, including working up a natural sweat, ultimately flees like most before him. The pope appoints cardinal Campeggio as legate to constitute a divorce court with Wolsey after the plague. Moore tells his daughter Lutheranism is a far worse danger then the plague, in all Europe. Unlike tens of thousands, Anne Boleyn and Wolsey survive, the plague recedes, the papal legate arrives as court reassembles, Tallis conducts a mass of thanks.

Cardinal Campeggio's long awaited papal legation has arrived at court to decide with colleague-cardinal Thomas Wolsey on the royal request for divorce, claiming Catherine's first marriage to Henry's late elder brother nullified his. When Campeggio learns the king won't yield, he suggests an alternative: the queen could retire to a monastery, but only voluntarily, which she refuses, swearing in confessional she came as a virgin to Henry. Thomas Tallis proposes to his late lover Joan's sister Jane. Under Anne Boleyn's love spell, Henry sends bishops to tells the queen she's suspected of hating and conspiring against him, and grows angry at Wolsey's failure to persuade or threaten Campeggio, even sends Charles Brandon to Paris to question the French king Francis I about the true intentions of the emperor, pope and cardinal. Brandon also confirms to father Thomas Boleyn's party the time may be ripe to bring Wolsey down. When the legatine court finally assembles, the king states his case personally as a matter of justice, allegedly after 'his conscience' finally stopped him from keeping silent out of love for the queen. Wolsey simply brushes aside the queen's objections to the competence and objectivity of the court. After imploring justice and appealing to Henry kneeling at his feet, Catherine walks out, to public acclaim, royal fury and Wolsey's despair.

The legatine court's divorce trial continues in the Queen's absence, hearing testimony suggesting prince Arthur carnally consummated his marriage to Catherine: embarrassing for the court, amusing for the populace. Catherine's council, bishop Fisher, dares claim even heaven can't dissolve the royal marriage, comparing to Herod Antipas' adultery shamed by Saint John the Baptist who was executed for that truth. Woolsey sends Thomas More to Cambria (Cambray) to check if France and the pope remain irreconcilable with the emperor. After Anne walks off, disbelieving Wolsey's promises to the king of a divorce by summer, Henry implies to cardinal Campeggio a negative verdict could turn him and England Lutheran, like half of Germany, yet after a papal message the legate prorogues the court till the end of the Roman Curia's recess, in October; imperial ambassador Mendoza, who is ceding his post to bishop Chapuys, tells Catherine it's the emperor's doing. Henry's sister Margaret dies from the consumption she contracted from Brandon, who recovered. When Thomas More reports the negotiations reconciled the emperor with France and pope Clement, Woolsey fears facing the royal wrath and ends up banned from court, ordered to relinquish all lucrative offices and accused of usurping royal authority. More is persuaded to succeed him as chancellor, under Henry's promise his conscience won't be abused by matters such as the divorce.

Now cardinal Wolsey lives in misery as penniless archbishop of and in York, barred from court, hoping in vain Anne Boleyn who broke his hold on the king will reward his efforts as she once wrote, honors and offices are mainly distributed to the Boleyn clan, with Norfolk in charge -Charles Brandon neglects his joint presidency- of the royal council. While the devout, rather ascetic new chancellor Thomas More is determined to crush heresy, personally attending the stake, Thomas Cromwell convinces Henry that under Luther's vision the king is above all earthly laws, even his annulment should merely be treated as a theological matter, so he is commissioned to put the case before European theology faculties, while ambassador Boleyn must approach pope and emperor. Once he tastes the burden of government, Henry reproaches the council less virtue and worse results then the cardinal, especially now the treasury is empty and troubles spread, but when Cromwell learns trough a physician about Wolsey's plot for his own reinstatement with pope and queen, the former master of the game is thrown in the Tower, where he slits his own throat, while More and the Catholic church are doomed now Henry has decided to make his own, almost Lutheran break-up with Rome after most universities and princes sided with Catherine.