The year is 1587.

A gathering storm looms on the horizon for England. The whole country will soon face one of its greatest trials in history.

Shakespeare is twenty-two years old. He is a married father of three young children, living with his family in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

He has dreams of doing something important, and going on a great adventure. He loves writing, and yet writing is a painful struggle.

He is a man of deeply held faith--but it is being tested. He is shocked at how England is torn apart due to the Reformation.

England wages war with Spain, with no end to the fighting in sight. England is a small and poor country. Spain is the only superpower in the world at the time.

Queen Elizabeth is brilliant, but capricious and often cruel. To maintain her power, she must rely on very powerful men in her court, who are often uncontrollable.

When Mary, Queen of Scots is executed the whole world seems to turn upside down.

For the next fifteen years, England will face wars, rebellion, acts of treason, mysterious deaths, civil turmoil, and a cultural revolution.

Queen Elizabeth loses her grip on her power, and on her own sanity.

She will have a terrible crisis of faith that could spell the end of England.

But one young man begins to rise in power and influence--the Earl of Essex.

He might become one of the most important men in the history of England. He might even become the King of England. But he must not be too ambitious, or let the weight of his destiny crush him.

The news of Mary's death reaches King Philip II of Spain--the single most powerful man in the world.

He must make the most fateful decision of his entire life: Will he send an Armada to conquer England?

Shakespeare will soon have to make his own fateful decision--to leave home.

Little does he know that by the end of the year he will become the most famous and the most mysterious man in England.

No matter what you think you know about these people and these events--this story will surprise you.