Elizabeth has been welcomed into the court of her uncle, King Richard III. Over the Yuletide celebrations she has received generous gifts, learned to love her gentle aunt and discovered her uncle is not the monster she was taught to expect. Impatient to be wed and desiring a crown like her mother before, Elizabeth also yearns to be loved. Believing she has met the one man who can offer all this and more, it does not occur to her there is a price to be paid for such riches. As the queen's health fails and Elizabeth's relations with her sister grow more difficult, the New Year begins in a storm of emotion. While Tristan and Iseult tread an impassioned path through their ancient tale, the road Elizabeth must walk in the months before Bosworth is no less perilous.