A biography of the doomed monarch whose devotion to her cousin Elizabeth I, and her duty to her country left her executed. Through evocative visuals, the film examines her return to Scotland, the exhausting struggles between Catholics and Protestants, her marriage to Lord Darnley, and her relationship with the Earl of Bothwell. Thomas Imbachs film presents a queen who lost three kingdoms, a wife who lost three husbands, and ultimately, a woman who lost her head.