Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) grows into a powerful ruler, gradually learning who she can and cannot trust. Pressured by her advisers to marry and produce an heir, she is courted by eligible aristocrats and royalty from across Europe. Elizabeth keeps all suitors at bay except for her favorite and most trusted adviser, Lord Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes). She determines she will never marry, refusing to share power or align England with another country. Conspirators plot her overthrow, but they are uncovered and executed (the Duke of Norfolk, the priest who carried letters from The Vatican, Mary of Guise, Monse