In the eighteenth century, the country of Great Britain is at war with France. However, Queen Anne
shows little interest in politics, partly because of poor health and partly because of boredom.
Her adviser Lady Sarah does all the work for her, genuinely caring about her queen even if
she doesn't like her rabbits, but also as a chance to effectively rule the country under
the queen's approval. Sarah opts for a tough kind of love, speaking to Anne with honesty whenever
little things like the bad state of her make-up come up. One morning, Sarah is visited by her
cousin Abigail, whose standing has been tainted by her father when he gambled her away in a game
of cards. Because an inappropriate man pushed her out of the carriage, Abigail is covered in mud,
so she's not making a very good first impression. She's brought a letter from her mother,
asking Sarah to give Abigail employment of some sort. This results in Abigail becoming one of the
many maids in the palace, in charge of chores like cleaning and sleeping in a bedroom where
all the maids sleep as well. While she may be a maid now, the other servants still see her
as a former lady and play pranks on her, like tricking her into touching lye without gloves,
which ends with Abigail burning a hand. Meanwhile, Sarah keeps being cornered by Lord Haley, the
leader of the opposition who wants the war to be over so the taxes don't go up to fund the fight.
He wants Great Britain to sign a peace treaty with France but Sarah disagrees, she thinks the French
must be obliviated until they leave on their own accord, and her husband Lord Marlborough
is doing a great job at commanding the armies. Another issue is Anne's legs, which occasionally
go through attacks of gout. One evening, Abigail is called to help clean and wrap up the queen's
legs while Sarah comforts her. This inspires Abigail to take a risk. The following morning,
she takes a horse into the forest to gather some herbs that she uses to make an ointment.
She applies this ointment to her own hand, then rides away when she notices Lord Samuel
is in the forest as well, watching her. When she returns to the palace, Abigail lies to the guard
saying she's been sent by the queen's doctor and sneaks inside Anne's bedroom to apply the ointment
to her legs while she sleeps. Unfortunately, Sarah catches her in the act and sends Abigail
to be whipped while a group of lords enters Anne's chambers to keep discussing war tactics.
Anne doesn't war to keep going, but Sarah manipulates her into the necessity of it. The
queen also mentions the ointment is truly helping her legs, and Sarah has no choice but to rush out
of the room to interrupt Abigail's punishment. Seeing as Abigail's honest in wanting to help
the queen, Sarah decides to appoint her Lady of the Bedchamber. This way someone else can keep
an eye on and control Anne while Sarah is busy with politics. It also means that now she hangs
out on the upper floors, Samuel often gets the chance to stare at Abigail whenever she passes by.
Sarah makes Anne sign letters she writes herself and hands them to Harley in the queen's name,
allowing her to keep the war going and pissing off Harley more every day. Most lords are against
Sarah, and her only ally is Lord Godolphin, who always tries his best to calm down Harley's anger.
Abigail keeps on trying her best to be more than a maid, and for now, Sarah trusts her and allows her
to use the queen's private library. One afternoon, Sarah takes Abigail outside to teach her how to
shoot, so Abigail takes the chance to ask Sarah how she can support war when it puts her husband
in danger. Sarah explains there's always a price to pay for safety, and she's willing to pay it.
As days pass, Abigail gets bolder and flirts with Samuel when she comes across him in the corridors,
which Harley finds very interesting. Still not willing to give up, Harley approaches Anne during
one of the queen's many royal parties, but Sarah keeps him away by mentioning a party
isn't the place to discuss politics. Then, she tries to entertain the queen with a lovely dance
she performs with a lord, however Anne hates it and after telling Harley she won't raise
the taxes just to anger Sarah, she asks to be taken back to her chambers. Anne slaps Sarah,
who apologizes for her making Anne jealous. The two women get closer when they reach the bedroom,
unaware that Abigail is in the library and can see it all. This is how Abigail learns the queen's
biggest secret: she's having an affair with Sarah. Doing her best to be quiet, Abigail sneaks out of
the room and bumps into Harley, who wishes to have a talk with her. He knows Abigail used to be a
lady, and he promises he could bring her back into the higher leagues if she accepts to spy for him.
However, Abigail refuses because she owes Sarah her new life, so Harley tells her to think about
it after pushing her to the ground. The next day, Sarah convinces the queen to announce there will
be a tax rise after all. Annoyed, Anne requests to be taken back to her chambers while Sarah goes out
to do some shooting with Abigal again. Abigail takes the chance to tell Sarah about Harley's
offer and swears she'll never accept because all of Sarah's secrets are safe with her, including
the biggest one. Sarah immediately understands the implication and shoots at the air near Abigail's
head as a warning of what may happen to her if she ever opens her mouth. Back to Anne,
she's bored of being alone in her bedroom playing solitaire and sends the servants to pick Sarah,
who is busy dealing with the palace's financial books. When Sarah comes to the queen's chambers,
she finds Anne standing at the window and drags her back by the clothes before she does something
stupid. Crying, Anne begs Sarah to take the day off, but Sarah reminds her work needs to be done,
so she'll only come by later when she's done. Unfortunately, the audience with the lords gets
rather fiery and Sarah can't cut the meeting short, so she sends Abigail to entertain the
queen instead. Anne doesn't want anything to do her, but Abigail manages to win her over by
releasing the rabbits and playing with them. While the two women play with the bunnies,
Anne confesses she has seventeen of them because she's lost seventeen babies, who were all born
dead. Later in the evening, Abigail is approached in her room by Samuel, who is wearing clothes and
make-up similar to the fancier lords. Abigail tells him she may consider getting together
with him in the future then kicks Samuel out, and a disappointed Harley is waiting for him outside,
because it had been his plan to send Samuel to seduce and bring Abigail into their side.
The next day, Sarah takes Anne riding to apologize for not being there for her the day before,
but Anne confesses she liked Abigail's kindness. Since Anne likes Abigail,
Sarah leaves her in her charge more often now so she can work. Unlike Sarah's tough love, Abigail
constantly showers Anne with compliments and doesn't scold her when Anne gets in a bad mood.
To cheer her up and help her with her boredom, Abigail offers to dance with Anne in the privacy
of her bedroom, giving her the kind of fun she hasn't had in a while. Sarah catches
them in the act and gets jealous, thus the next time they go shooting, she tells Abigail that
she won't be needed around the queen anymore. However, when a servant comes by with a message,
Sarah is irritated to hear Anne has asked for Abigail and not for her. Sarah doesn't let her go,
she rushes to see Anne herself and threatens her while explaining she knows Anne is doing this
on purpose to make her more jealous. One evening, Harley makes Abigail trip, demanding information.
Abigail tells him nothing and to get him off her back, she begins crying,
effectively scaring him off. The next day, during the assembly where Anne should announce the tax
rise, Harley begins the meeting by giving a speech about the queen's understanding and generosity.
This makes Anne feel cornered and she pretends to pass out to get out of there. Meanwhile, Abigail's
reading in the forest when she's approached by Samuel again. The two of them begin flirting as
they chase each other in the woods, and Abigail informs him she accepts to marry him. Sadly,
she can't do it because she's a maid, so she'll have to change a few things first. Afterward,
she goes to the queen's room, and finding it empty, she gets some of her sweets for herself and
gets an idea. Back to Anne, she's being reassured by Sarah and Godolphin that it wasn't her fault,
Harley had set her up. Sarah promises to reset the date while Anne goes back to her chambers,
where she finds Abigail sleeping naked in her bed. Abigail pretends she accidentally fell
asleep and quickly gets changed while making sure the queen can see every inch of her skin.
When night falls, Abigail is summoned to the queen's chambers because she needs a leg massage.
Abigail takes the chance to let her hands go higher and show Anne she can please her the
same way Sarah does. When Sarah comes by later, she finds Abigail and Anne cuddling after their
obvious activities and immediately leaves with a broken heart under Abigail's cunning gaze.
The next day, Sarah is trying to find a book of hers and uses that as an excuse to throw
books at Abigail, calling her a disloyal liar and sending her to work with the cleaning maids again.
However, Abigail goes to the hallway outside the queen's room instead, then she fakes being hit in
the face and begins crying so Anne can find her and blame Sarah for it. Later, when Sarah tries
to convince Anne to fire Abigail for being a liar and a thief, the queen refuses. That afternoon,
Anne is taken to have a mud bath for the sake of her health. Abigail keeps her company,
but Sarah shows up and gets in the bath with Anne, entertaining her with some jokes to win
back her favor. That evening, Anne chooses Sarah to spend her time with, and Sarah realizes Anne
enjoys having two beautiful women fighting over her and seeing Sarah try her best to woo her.
Abigail spends the evening with Samuel and comes to the conclusion that having morals will only
take her back to poverty. The next morning, while Sarah and Anne discuss how and when to make the
tax rise announcement, Abigail makes tea for them and slips some noxious herbs into Sarah's cup.
She does notice the taste is different but doesn't comment on it. The herbs kick in later when Sarah
goes riding, making her puke and fall from the horse. Her legs get stuck in the rains though, and
the horse ends up dragging her through the woods until she's found by a couple that is getting busy
behind a tree. With Sarah out of the way, Abigail goes to see Harley to offer him a deal: she'll get
him an audience with the queen and speak highly of him if, in return, Harley gets Anne's permission
for Abigail to marry a lord. Anne takes advantage of Sarah being gone as well and gets to leave the
room more, talking to people that Sarah wouldn't usually allow near her. Harley catches her alone
in the garden and explains how war is damaging the country, the riots in the city, and how people may
start to hate Anne if this doesn't stop. He also casually mentions that his dear friend Samuel has
fallen for Abigail and wishes he could marry her, not caring that she's a maid. Later, Godolphin
asks the queen to send riders to look for Sarah, but Anne is offended that Sarah abandoned her like
this and refuses. Meanwhile, the woman from the woods turns out to be an adult worker,
so she takes Sarah to the bawdy establishment she works at and gives her a room for her to rest and
recover. Later in the evening, when Anne wakes up in pain, she realizes she needs Sarah tremendously
and finally orders people to go and find her. The following days, Harley takes advantage of Sarah's
absence to ask Anne for things, and whenever Godolphin tries to stop him, Abigail cuts in
with what pretends to be an innocent analogy that pushes the queen to follow Harley's ideas.
One evening, Anne is lamenting her pain again, saying she's nothing without Sarah.
Abigail scolds her and reminds her she's a queen with a strength of her own. Touched by her words,
Anne expresses a wish to make Abigail happy and grants her permission to marry Samuel.
In fact, she knows Sarah wouldn't approve, so they do it that very same night before Sarah returns.
Now Abigail's a lady again, her father's gambling debts are paid,
and she and Samuel get the apartments in the west wing. But during the wedding night,
Abigail can't stop thinking about Sarah and how long she's taking to come back, worrying she may
be planning something. Eventually, Godolphin finds Sarah and brings her back to the palace.
She makes an appearance showing everyone her new face scar and scoffing at Abigail when she
pretends to have worried. Abigail tells Sarah that she has what she wants now, so they don't
need to fight anymore, but Sarah just answers with a slap. Then, Sarah goes to see the queen,
saying she had been attacked by bandits. She asks Anne to fire Abigail and to take
back the new orders she's given under Harley's advice, but Anne refuses and pushes Sarah off
when she tries to climb on the bed because the scar scares her. The next morning, Sarah comes
over again with her scar covered and blackmails Anne, telling her to do as she says or she'll
show everyone the letters the queen had written to her confessing her love and impure thoughts.
Anne isn't scared though and assigns Harley as the prime minister to seek a peace treaty with France.
Heartbroken, Sarah burns the letters before she's asked to hand in her key and leave court.
Abigail begins to indulge in court society, openly having affairs and neglecting Anne more every day.
Sarah goes to live with her husband in the countryside, but Godolphin refuses to give up,
so he talks to the queen and convinces Anne to hear Sarah out if she writes a letter. He also
has to convince Sarah to write such a letter, and after many failed tries full of insults,
Sarah writes a heartful apology. However, Abigail always checks the queen's mail first,
and burns Sarah's letter before it can reach Anne. She also decides to strike again just in case and
tells Anne that Sarah had been embezzling money, but the queen doesn't believe her.
However, since days pass without news from Sarah, Anne grows bitter and during the next assembly,
she uses Abigail's lie to order the exile of Sarah and her husband from the country.
While soldiers go to the Marlborough residence, Anne rests in her bed.
Abigail thinks she's sleeping and abuses one of her bunnies without knowing Anne can see her.
Furious, Anne leaves the bed and makes Abigail get on her knees to massage her legs as she
supports her weight on her head, a sign of the eternal cage Abigail has locked them both in.