A hunchback murders his way to the British throne.
As King Edward IV of England lies dying, his hunchbacked brother, Richard of Gloucester, plots to do away with all who stand between him and the throne. To protect his two young sons until they are old enough to replace him, Edward appoints his other brother, Clarence, as Protector of the Realm, but Richard murders Clarence with a knife bearing the queen's crest. Now suspicious of his wife, Edward appoints Richard to Clarence's former position, and Richard, with the aid of his henchman Sir Ratcliffe, tries to get the royal nursemaid Mistress Shore to cast doubt on the boys' legitimacy; she prefers dying on the rack, however, to defaming the queen. Meanwhile, the queen has gathered her supporters and been assured by Margaret, her lady-in-waiting, that Scottish armies led by the latter's father, Lord Stanley, will offer military aid against Richard. When Richard sees the bloodied apparition of Mistress Shore, he becomes deranged and murders his wife, Anne. Maddened with fear and haunted by visions, Richard holds Margaret hostage to prevent her father from moving against him, suffocates the two young princes in the Tower of London, and proclaims himself king. Through a ruse, Margaret is released, forcing Richard into battle against Lord Stanley. The Earl of Richmond's army arrives from France to join in combat against Richard at Bosworth, where the ghosts of Richard's victims rise against him; he is thrown by a horse and lands on the battle-ax of a dead soldier, fulfilling prophecies of his violent death.
