On an outing from her boarding school, young Lucía meets Manuel?art historian and exquisite storyteller?who shares with her the tale of one of history's most tumultuous loves: Queen Juana of Castile's legendary devotion to her husband, Prince Philippe the Handsome. Embracing a union thrust upon her by political necessity, Juana responds with all the passionate abandon inherent in her fiery nature?and is forced to pay a high price for her honest sensuality. For there are those at the Renaissance court who will not allow such unabashed independence in the heir to one of the world's most powerful empires?and they declare Juana mad, denying her ascension to the throne. But is she truly insane,