England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe oppose him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell has broken all the rules of a rigid society in his ascent to power, and is preparing to break some more. Pitting himself against parliament, the political establishment and the papcy, he is prepared to reshape England to his own and Henry's desires.