Early 16th century: following the death of Isabel la Católica, her widow Fernando de Aragón enters in an open war with his tyrannical son-in-law, Felipe el Hermoso, lord of Flandes, who wants to be the new king of the kingdom of Castilla above all. In the middle of the conflict his wife Juana, Fernando's daughter, turns in the center of attention caused by her unstable mind state. Trying to preserve the kingdom for their descendants, Fernando asks help Cardinal Cisneros in order to make a deal with Felipe, but this one has his own agenda looking to expel Fernando out of the Castilla to claim the throne for him, avoiding any contact between father and daughter that it could be an obstacle for his ambitions. But will can Juana to mediate between the two men of her life to prevent a war between the kingdoms that it annihilates the legacy and will of her beloved and deceased mother, or her growing insanity will be the perfect excuse to start the war?
Based on Penelope Fitzgerald's novel of the same name; The Bookshop is set in 1959, Florence Green, a free spirited widow, puts grief behind her and risks everything to open up a bookshop - the first such shop in the sleepy seaside town of Hardborough, England. Fighting damp, cold and considerable local apathy she struggles to establish herself but soon her fortunes change for the better. By exposing the narrow minded local townsfolk to the best literature of the day including Nabokov's scandalizing "Lolita" and Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451", she opens their eyes thereby causing a cultural awakening in a town which has not changed for centuries. Her activities bring her a kindred spirit and ally in the figure of Mr Brundish who is himself sick of the town's stale atmosphere. But this mini social revolution soon brings her fierce enemies: she invites the hostility of the town's less prosperous shopkeepers and also crosses Mrs. Gamart, Hardborough's vengeful, embittered alpha female who is herself a wannabe doyenne of the local arts scene. When Florence refuses to bend to Gamart's will, they begin a struggle not just for the bookshop but for the very heart and soul of the town.