Czar Nicholas II takes the Russian throne in 1894 and rejects modern ideas to embrace a pure autocracy. Tragedy marks his coronation day.

Russia’s disastrous war against Japan prompts civil unrest. Prince Alexei is diagnosed with hemophilia, and Siberian mystic Rasputin steps in.

Rasputin’s influence grows. The Romanovs retreat into a bubble of luxury while the czar's forces brutally suppress protests by a starving populace.