Elizabeth Bathory is a beautiful young Hungarian/Slovakian noblewoman who was born during the last years of the 16th century. When her parents die, the king assigns her progressive cousin, Count Cuyorgy Thurzo, responsibility for her education and upbringing. However, she is impregnated by a peasant, and the King removes Elizabeth from Thurzo’s care and marries her to the brutal soldier Count Ferenc Nadasdy, with instructions for Nadasdy to train her in the appropriate behavior of Hungarian nobility. Appropriate behavior, in this case, includes exercising draconian discipline over the serfs belonging to the estates under her control.
While Nadasdy is away during prolonged wars with the Turks, Elizabeth becomes a capable manager, but she also becomes increasingly addicted to the power of her position and the brutality with which she can exercise it. When Nadasdy returns during a lull in the fighting, Elizabeth refuses to cede control of their properties. The struggle escalates, and she has him murdered.