Father Ballard
Cuando Isabel I (1558-1603), hija de Enrique VIII y Ana Bolena, se convierte en reina de Inglaterra y cabeza de la Iglesia anglicana, tropieza con la oposición de los católicos, que consideran que la legítima heredera del trono inglés es su prima María Estuardo (Vanessa Redgrave), la católica reina de Escocia. Tras el triunfo de los protestantes escoceses, María se ve obligada a abdicar en favor de su hijo Jacobo, pero, poco después, comete el error de huir a Inglaterra, donde es encarcelada y procesada por orden de su prima Isabel (Glenda Jackson), que nunca dejó de considerarla una amenaza.
Kent
King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.
