Luke Krueger intertwines his adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer's beloved classic with the well known rivalry, made famous by Shakespeare, between Richard II and Henry Bolingbroke...a time in which Chaucer lived and thrived. As Richard waits to launch for Ireland to suppress rebellion, he grows increasingly paranoid regarding Henry's whereabouts and the presence of Lady Joan de Bohun, Henry's mother-in-law, within his court. Chaucer arrives to court unannounced, apparently to secure patronage for his latest draft of the Tales. Mocked and taunted by Richard and his Dukes of Exeter and Surrey, Chaucer en-treats Richard to watch the Tales played out by the company of jongleurs at his court. Richard soon surmises that the Tales are actually encrypted messages from Chaucer, a wily states-man and spy, as to the machinations of Henry. Richard's paranoia and delusions of grandeur cloud his judgment, and he embarks on his ill-fated expedition to Ireland.