France, 1572. In an era of turbulent religious struggle, beautiful Catholic Marguerite de Valois is forcibly married to the prominent Huguenot Henri de Bourbon, ostensibly as a way to reconcile the divided country.
However, the powers behind the throne of the neurotic King Charles IX have far more brutal ambitions in mind.
Based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas, this is a lush and passionate drama, bloodily depicting a France tearing itself apart from within, both in the decadence of the Royal palaces and the mud of the city streets.