Still in grief over his wife's sudden death, village blacksmith Balian joins his long-estranged father, Baron Godfrey, as a crusader on the road to Jerusalem. After a perilous journey to the holy city, the valiant young man enters the retinue of the leprous King Baldwin IV, which is rife with dissent led by the treacherous Guy de Lusignan, who wishes to wage war against the Muslims for his own political and personal gain.
